


Horrificmemes' October Writing Challenge 2018

by Emily_Garcia



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: AKA how Emily got into magic, And technically, Andrew in Ch 21 is not the same Andrew as in the other drabbles, Andrew is a good boi and I love him, Angel didn't keep his curfew and now bad things will happen, Angel is a good brother, Beware, Blood, Bruises, But only a little, Ch 23 contains, Chapter 1:Don't Get Sad; Get Even, Chapter 21 is a Human Au, Child Death, Death, Deity Au, Deity Au again!, Drugging, Dust Bowl, Dust pneumonia, Emily Has Issues (TM), Emily has More Issues, Falling down the stairs, Fire, Fratricide, I fucked up the tags for chapter 10 and labeled them for 4, I have too many Aus, I mention her and Angel, I used Rome for this bc puns, I'm like, I'm way behind, Injury, Kidnapping, Mimic, Minor Violence, Mirrors, Murder, Nightmares, Onacona doesn't deserve this, Resurrection, Sensory Deprivation, The Andrew in Ch 21 is a douche, Vampires, Well - Freeform, a brief and vague hospital scene, a man-eating shadow creature, actually it's the same vampires, almost half way done with these, also bad shit, an evil doll getting said little girl blamed for property damage, and, and France, and i think that's about it, and it's the 27th, anyway chapter 10 includes:, bad shit, but it's a bit darker than most of the other Aus, but it's ok because nobody dies, but not a lot, but only at the end, but still, but that's ok, but the issues in ch 12 are mostly unrelated to the issues in ch 11, but they're not really in it, ch 22, chapter 17 includes:, dumbass siblings, general creepiness in chapter 2, god dammit, haunted closet, haunted doll - Freeform, i guess, in chapter idk uhh 14 I think, it contains, it's great, like really minor because I'm not good at writing it, look another Dust Bowl drabble, loss of senses, more vampires!, oh and Ahyoka dies, poltergeist activity blamed on a little girl, return of the vampires, some vampires are elitist assholes, sorta - Freeform, technically, the haunted doll and haunted closet are unrelated, the mirrors are not in relation to the vampires, there's an enchanted necklace, these are in no particular order, this is not Arkansas/ Miles and Alex's brother/ Emily's friend, this time it's not Emily!, well I don't but that's not the point, who doesn't love creepy dolls, whooP, will add tags as I add stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-07 11:42:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 25,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16407839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emily_Garcia/pseuds/Emily_Garcia
Summary: Based off of @horrificmemes writing challenge. Just a series of drabbles surrounding Emily in various AUs and the original verse. Featuring various ocs, some of which belong to me.





	1. Revenge/Burial

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Hetalia or its characters. I don own Emily and Heni and Cat. I co-own Miles, Andrew, Onacona, and Naduah with @texass-shenanigans/@usrp-louisiana. Angel belongs to @texass-shenanigans and Alex belongs to @usrp-louisiana.  
> Character list:  
> Emily/Huutsuu=Oklahoma  
> Heni/Henrietta=Kansas  
> Angel/Colonneh=Texas  
> Naduah/Elena=Comanche  
> Onacona/Daniel=Cherokee  
> Alex=Louisiana  
> Miles=Missouri  
> Ahyoka=Sequoyah/Indian Territory  
> Andrew=Arkansas  
> Cat/Caterina=Arizona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks after Ahyoka's death, Emily decides somebody should pay.

Category 1: Revenge; Category 2: Burial

Emily raised her hand to knock on the door before her, then hesitated. She knew the boys would have what she needed, but she wasn’t sure they’d let her use it the way she wanted. It wasn’t exactly the most moral use of magic, and if Alex found out that they had helped her, Andrew and Miles would be certain to lose any and all supernatural privileges. Then again, both boys were hurting, too. They would understand. Heck, Alex understood, he just didn’t want Emily to be using magic for such purposes, especially when she was so young and inexperienced. In the end, Emily swallowed and, reminding herself why she was doing this, she knocked.

Miles opened the door and looked down, a little surprised. “Huutsuu! Er, I mean Emily. You’re, uh… back?”

Emily frowned a little at the relatively new name, then responded, “I asked Alex if he knew how to use magic to talk to the dead. He said no…” She looked up at him and blinked back tears.

Miles looked at his brother sadly, who had come to the door behind him. “No, you can’t talk to the dead. You can’t bring her back, Em, I’m sorry. It just doesn’t work like that.”

“I know,” Emily said, taking in a deep breath before continuing. “That’s why I wanna use it for something else. I wanna get back at them.”

Andrew blinked, shocked at the change of tone. “Get back at who? At Alfred?” Miles was in disbelief. This wasn’t like Emily at all. As he stared, she squared her shoulders.

“And the people who did it. Ahyoka’s gone and she never did anything to them, and they made her disappear! Why shouldn’t they have to feel that? Why should we be the only ones who hurt?” Her voice cracked here, and she bit her lip and looked down, sucking in an unsteady breath.

Andrew and Miles looked to each other, then Andrew knelt down and pulled Emily into a hug, stroking her hair. She clung to him and sobbed into his shoulder while Miles sat down next to them. The three sat together for a few minutes until Emily’s sobs had settled into sniffles. She curled onto Andrew’s lap and the three sat in silence, Andrew and Miles sharing a silent conversation.

Just a few days before, Emily had finally been roused out of her self-imposed bedrest by Angel, and just a few weeks before that, Ahyoka had been buried. The boys had been there, along with Alex. It had been the only time either of them had seen Naduah cry. Angel had held Emily through the entire event, clutching her close as if he were afraid he might lose her as well. Onacona held his wife and bitterly wondered why fate would be so cruel as to return one stolen child to them, only to take another away permanently. Alex had stayed close to Angel the entire time, holding his hand and trying to talk to Emily, who refused to speak to anyone. As for Miles and Andrew, they had stuck together, watching the body be moved and clinging to one another, feeling an empty space where their friend should be. Miles had been the first to break down when they had heard what had happened, holding onto his brother as he cried. Later, Andrew would do the same, with Miles patting his head until he calmed down. They had been worried about Emily—still called Huutsuu at the time, and still called so now by her parents—fretting over the fact that she had lost as much or more than they had. Further, she had no one her age to comfort her (Miles and Andrew were both a few years older). Her family did the best they could, but she soon retreated into herself. The boys felt they had lost two friends instead of one. It was a relief now to see her here, though better circumstances would have been nice.

The pain of losing Ahyoka came back fresh, as they knew it still was with Emily. It hurt, and what had happened to her—what was done to her—wasn’t right.

Revenge, and especially misusing magic for revenge, wasn’t right either. The boys shared one last look.

They didn’t care.

“We can do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: They don't kill or injure anybody, but they do get very good at sending bad dreams to people and placing inconvenient charms on both people and objects.  
> And Alex and Angel kinda just turn a blind eye when Alfred asks them to get their siblings under control.


	2. Lookalike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is spending the night at Angel's house when a voice is heard, and something isn't quite right. Based off of some creepy stories I've heard. The south is a weird place to be.

“Angel!”

Angel sat up at the sound of his name being called. Was that Emily? He listened for a minute, thinking he may have imagined it since he was almost asleep.

“Angel! Come here, quick!” This was louder than the first time, and it was clear Emily was upset. Angel groaned. It was 11:00 p.m., there was no reason for Emily to be up this late. Still, she did sound a little worried; maybe something was wrong. Even if it wasn’t, she would keep calling for him until he got up or the whole house woke up. Sighing, Angel swung his feet over the edge of the bed and got up quietly, not wanting to wake up Alex. He went out the door and turned towards the other bedrooms. Emily’s would be the door on the opposite side of the hall from his, just a few feet further down. As he began in that direction, he heard her call again, more distressed this time.

Only this time, she was downstairs. Angel paused, frowning. Did she break something and need help cleaning it? Shrugging, he turned from the bedrooms to the stairs when another thought made him hesitate. _Why didn’t she just come to my door?_ Emily wouldn’t just shout through the house, especially if there were people other than Angel and herself. Angel turned back toward the bedrooms, then started toward Emily’s. Something wasn’t right. Before he made it to her room, however, he heard the door to Miles and Andrew’s room open.

“Angel,” Miles poked his head out, looking uneasy. He looked up at Angel and whispered, “Did you hear it, too?”

Angel looked at him, then pushed the door open a little wider. Behind Miles, Andrew was on the floor, scanning through books of magic and folklore and looking anxious. And on the bed, looking pale and shaking, Emily sat fidgeting with a small talisman meant for protection.

Angel blinked. “I’m gonna go get Alex. Lock the door behind me.” When Miles nodded, he turned and quickly made his way to his own room. There, he went and gently shook Alex awake.

“Angel, it is the middle of the night, I swear to god-”

“There’s something downstairs. Some kind of mimic.” Alex sat up, frowning and suddenly very awake. Angel explained the events of the past few minutes and they both rose and moved to the room where the kids were. When they opened the door, Miles, who had been warding the entrances, gave a very undignified squeal. Both men entered, and miles returned to his work, finishing the door and locking it. Angel went over to Emily, who still looked frightened, and put an arm over her shoulders while Alex joined Andrew with his books and questioned him about what was happening.

Apparently, Emily had been woken up by what she thought had been Angel calling for her from downstairs. She was going to go investigate when it occurred to her that the voice she heard didn’t sound quite right. She went to Miles and Andrew’s room instead, informing them. They also began to hear the shouts, which grew louder and more urgent. They finally ceased and the children began to relax a bit, searching in their bools for an answer (they figured whatever had been trying to lure Emily probably didn’t just leave because she hadn’t come down yet). However, a few minutes after that, they heard the thing mimicking Alex and calling for Andrew, then Miles, still sounding distressed. When neither boy fell for the trick, they figured that’s when the mimic turned its attention to Angel. As if to emphasize the point, another cry rang through the house, and Angel wondered why the hadn’t been woken earlier when the younger states were being targeted. This time was still Emily’s voice, practically screaming, calling for help. Angel could feel Emily tense beside him and shiver, and he pulled her closer to him.

Miles frowned, looking tired and vaguely afraid, which worried Angel; he honestly was beginning to think nothing rattled Miles at this point, but hearing something mimicking his loved ones in order to lure him in was understandably disturbing.

Alex sat up a little straighter, tapping a page in the notebook he had been searching. “I know what it is. Miles, what did you ward the door with?” Miles explained, and Alex nodded approvingly. “Make a perimeter, something big enough for all of us, just in case. I can get rid of it, but I have to open the door and see it.” Miles nodded and did as he was told. As he did so, a new voice rang through the house. It sounded like Andrew, but something was off… the voice almost sounded younger. It shouted for Alex, who firmly ignored it in favor of further reading.

When the circle was complete, the group moved into it, with the exception of Alex, who opened the door first, then joined the others.

“Alex! Please help!” As before, the voice had grown louder and more desperate.

Alex said firmly, “Come up here.” He could feel the silent, collective _wtf_ he was getting from behind, but he ignored it, watching the doorway.

Soon, a smallish figure stepped into the doorway. It looked like Arkansas, but much younger and in much worse shape. The being’s eyes were bruised, it was pale and gaunt, and it seemed as though it hadn’t had a decent meal in quite a while. Alex thought it was reminiscent of the Great Depression, when many of his brother’s people fled to California, only to suffer there as well. Of course, he hadn’t looked quite this bad then. This thing was playing off fear and past traumas to lure one of the group away from the rest. When Miles saw it, he grasped his brother’s hand to make sure he was still there.

It looked to Alex and whimpered pitifully, “Alex… It hurts.”

Alex didn’t move and kept his face firmly indifferent. “You need to leave. Nobody here wants to play your games.”

The Andrew-lookalike frowned, then directed its gaze to Miles and opened its mouth to speak.

“Don’t talk to him. He doesn’t want to talk to you. You need to go home.” Alex cut the thing off before it got a word out. It scowled at him. Then its form began to change until Emily’s figure stood where Andrew had been. Instead of the Emily still clinging to Angel’s side, this girl was small and very frail-looking, seeming to be little more than skin and bones. Her mouth had something red smeared across it, and Angel remembered Emily (and Heni, and Andrew, and others, including himself at one point) coughing and hacking until they had turned a pure white handkerchief almost completely crimson.

Alex didn’t give the thing the chance to choose another target. He held out a talisman and said firmly, “It’s time to go. You’re not welcome here, so leave.” The thing eyes the object in his hand, then whined, but turned and vanished as if it were never there. Alex sighed in relief and began cleaning up the perimeter ward.

Miles stood in place and looked to his older brother. “Well, that was disturbing in a number of ways. For the record, I wanna make clear that we had nothing to do with bringing that here.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I know. It was just wandering around the area. It just wanted someone to… well, to play pretend, more or less. It wouldn’t actually hurt you physically. The problem is that it wants to scare you, because that fear gives it something to feed off of. But it shouldn’t bother us now. I’m still gonna ward all the doors and windows, though.”

Once all the wards were in place, the group settled back down to rest. Angel and Alex were both almost asleep when they heard a knock.

Angel rolled his eyes. “This had better be the damn mimic.” It wasn’t. By the end of it all, all five people slept in Angel and Alex’s room, cuddled together on the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said before, the south is a creepy place. Mimics are freaky as all get out.


	3. Transformation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deity AU. Andrew (god of youth in nature) learns a new trick and wants to show it off.

Miles peeked through the window and waved to get Emily’s attention. Beneath him, Andrew groaned about how Miles should lay off whatever sweets he’d been eating and gripped his legs while he held him up. Miles rolled his eyes and tapped the window gently. Finally, Emily looked up. When she saw the boy outside, she grinned and waved back. Miles motioned for her to open the window, and she happily obliged, stepping back as Miles climbed in and then pulled Andrew up as well.

Once they were inside and the window had been closed again, all three children sat on the ground.

“What are you guys doin’ here?” Emily was always excited when the two boys showed up because they almost always had something fun to do or show.

Miles pulled out a little bowl filled with dirt and set it on the ground in the middle of their circle.

“Andrew learned a new trick he wants to show you!” Miles proclaimed.

Andrew was a young nature god. His abilities tended to relate to youth in nature; young animals trusted and spoke with him and he could manipulate young plants. He had on several occasions used his abilities to make gifts for Emily and Miles or others. A small tiara of twigs and buds which he had formed for Emily during a game hung over her bed.

He nodded his head. “Yeah, I’ve been practicin’ for a while and I finally got it right.”

Emily scooted forward to see better as Andrew took the bowl in his hands. He held it close to his chest and whispered over it, almost as if he were speaking to a friend. At first, nothing happened. After a few seconds, however, the dirt in the center of the bowl began to shift ever so slightly. A tiny, pale green shoot poked up through the dirt and rose up. Emily gasped, and Miles watched silently (something he rarely did unless he was extremely impressed), still amazed by his brother’s abilities. After a few minutes, the shoot had grown to be several inches high and developed a small bud on the top, which, in turn, grew into a tiny flower. Emily squealed and clapped her hands.

“Oh, it’s so cute and little!” Andrew held it out proudly for her to get better look as Miles threw an arm over his shoulder.

“That’s pretty amazing.”

Andrew smiled. Miles suggested they go find Alex to show him Andrew’s newfound talent, and the three stood up to go find more seeds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So freaking short! But cute and a welcome bit of fluff considering the rest of the drabbles for this series.  
> Also, I sorta cheated on the transformation bit and just sped up a normal process, but we'll ignore that.


	4. Secret/Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naduah has been through a lot and now she has nightmares.

Emily woke up lying next to her mother in the bed. Her brother was at Alex’s house for the night and her father had gone to visit his siblings, so she and Naduah were home alone, which meant Emily could get away with sharing the bed. She blinked blearily, mind foggy with sleep. She didn’t know what had woken her up. She stared at the ceiling for a bit and, after not hearing or seeing anything that would have disturbed her sleep, she turned over to face her mother and closed her eyes. A moment later she heard Naduah mutter something quietly. Emily opened her eyes again.

“Mama?” she asked. Naduah was facing Emily’s side of the bed, but her eyes were firmly shut. She didn’t respond to Emily, who decided she must just be having a dream. Emily was about to settle down again when Naduah spoke once more. It was really just bits and pieces of words, but Emily gathered from the down that whatever dream this was, it wasn’t pleasant. She sounded upset, Angry, even.

Emily sat up as her mother’s murmuring grew a little louder. The woman clutched the pillow beneath her head and furrowed her brow in distress. There were more whispers, and Emily caught a faint “leave” in her native language before Naduah was silent again. She wondered if her mother talking to someone in her dream. That’s what the pauses made it sound like.

Naduah barked something harsh in Comanche, and Emily jumped at the force with which it was said. Growing more concerned, she thought that she should probably try to wake her mother up. As she thought this, her mother cried out, not in anger this time, but in distress. She sounded almost… scared wasn’t the right word. Distraught? She pulled the pillow she was sleeping on closer to her and squeezed it tighter, threatening whomever was harassing her to stay back.

Emily reached out and placed a hand on Naduah’s shoulder, shaking gently. Naduah’s eyes snapped open and her hand shot up to catch Emily’s arm, snarling at an unseen assailant and still coming out of the dream. She blinked and stared at her daughter, confused and breathing rapidly. Slowly, the image of Emily replaced that of the person from her dream. Letting go of Emily’s wrist, Naduah sat up in bed and pulled her child close to her. Emily could hear Naduah’s heart beating rapidly in her chest and craned her head up to look at her. It was strange. Now that she was awake, Naduah looked as though she were trying to recover from a terrifying event. Emily had never even seen her mother look scared.

“Pia, what’s wrong?” she said as she squirmed into a more comfortable position. This seemed to shock Naduah out of her trance and she looked down at Emily.

“Nothing… Nothing’s wrong, love,” she said, voice still a little shaky. “It was just a dream.” Emily thought it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anything, but she didn’t say it. She just cuddled closer into her mother’s warmth and squeezed her in a hug.

“It’s ok, Mama,” she muttered. Eventually, the two laid back down and fell asleep.


	5. Creature/Night Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampire AU. Every year, their parents keep them inside, where they will be safe. What could be out there that would threaten vampires? Well, other vampires, probably.

Huutsuu stood by the window and stared up into the sky. She could see the stars winking in the blackness, and beneath those, the trees surrounding their home were illuminated by the moon. It was so pretty outside, and she really wanted to just go out and play. That wasn’t allowed, though. Not right now, anyway. Her mother insisted she and her sister stay inside at night for the next few days. Colonneh would have been kept at home as well if her father hadn’t convinced her mother that he was old enough and experienced enough to protect himself. Even still, Naduah had him promising not to stray too far from home and to be home before midnight. Huutsuu didn’t like having to stay inside at night. She and her siblings couldn’t really play outside during the day most of the time, and her mother could hardly go out at all during the day, so the night was a sort of refuge for the family.

Huutsuu is still staring out the window when she hears her mother walk into the room. She doesn’t pay much mind to it until the footsteps stop abruptly and she hears her mother’s voice.

“Huutsuu, baby, come away from there!” Huutsuu turns around at the words, fear evident in Naduah’s words. She’s at the window in seconds, lifting Huutsuu from its frame and carrying her to the other side of the room. Naduah draws a curtain across the glass, blocking the moonlight and shrouding the room in darkness. From the hall, a little light filtered in from a lamp, the only unnatural light in the home. All other lamps and candles had either been snuffed out or never lit in the first place, and most of the windows had their curtains drawn. Anyone passing by from the outside would never notice the house was there unless they already knew of it. Which was exactly what her parents wanted.

Naduah leads Huutsuu to the hall with the light, where Onacona and Ahyoka sit together, drawing. Huutsuu goes to sit by her sister while her mother paces. The way her father looked up wearily, she assumed Naduah had been pacing most of the night so far. “Naduah, please. Sit down, you’ll only worry yourself sick. Everything will be fine, it always is.”

She looked over at him and hesitated. “I know… but this is the first year Colonneh has been out alone at this time of year, and those stories in town of people being attacked…”

Onacona stood and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “They were early this year. They’ll probably leave early. Besides, none of them have ever seen the kids, and Colonneh can take care of himself if there’s trouble. He knows this place better than they do.” As he spoke, he placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead. Naduah leaned into the touch and sighed.

“I know. I just want this to pass.”

Onacona finally succeeded in getting Naduah to sit down and relax. It didn’t last long, however. As midnight came and passed, Colonneh was nowhere to be seen, and Onacona had to admit that he was also getting a little worried. Around one in the morning, when Naduah was starting to insist that she should go look for him, a noise came from the direction of the door. Both adults stiffened, and the girls at their feet could feel the tension. There was another sound and Naduah stood.

“Girls,” Naduah said, keeping her voice level. “I want you to stay right here with Papa and stay quiet, ok? I’m going to go see who’s at the door.” Huutsuu and Ahyoka nodded, moving closer to Onacona. Naduah made her way silently to the door. She took a small knife from its place on her hip and gripped it tightly. She knew it wouldn’t be much help against the people she feared were outside, but she also knew she wouldn’t necessarily need it. She was confident if another vampire were outside, she could hold her own, but her children were vulnerable still and she would take any help she could get in defending them.

Taking a breath to steady herself, she undid the locks and swung open the door, bracing for whatever was on the other side.

She would have sighed in relief if she wasn’t still so tense. On the other side of the door stood Colonneh, looking out of breath and harried. Naduah pulled him inside and locked the door again, leading him to the rest of their family.

“What happened? Midnight came, and you weren’t home, and we were so worried-” Colonneh cut her off.

“I’m fine, Mama, really. I just… had a close call.” Naduah’s eyes widened, and he quickly added, “but nothing bad happened! There were some campers close to the path home and I almost walked up on them, that’s all. Nobody saw me.” Naduah didn’t seem convinced, but she let it go. The family moved to Naduah and Onacona’s bedroom and spent the rest of the night talking quietly, with Huutsuu and Ahyoka listening as Colonneh told them about his trip out alone. He was wrong about being seen, though, and about the encampment being simply campers. However, they wouldn’t be bothered tonight, and so the family remained safe and unaware.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompts were creature and night sky, how could I not do a vampire AU. Thanks to @texass-shenanigans for helping out with world building.  
> Naduah is a vampire but Onacona is human, meaning their children are half-vampires, which is a big no-no among a lot of vampires in this AU


	6. Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Deity AU drabble. This time, Emily learns why you shouldn't accept gifts from random strangers. Especially magical shadow things that eat people.

Angel went out to the woods behind their home to search for items Alex needed for one of his spells. When Emily heard him say where he was going, she had insisted on coming along. The forest was one of the young deity’s favorite places to be. The whole area was infused with a sense of magic and wonder, partly innate and partly stemming from the fact that deities had used the place as a training grounds for their children for generations, attracted by its natural attributes. After Angel promised to keep and eye on her and to not take her deep into the forest, their parents finally relented, and the siblings set off.

Angel hoisted Emily up onto his shoulders when she started to fall behind, and once he found a clearing deep in the woods, he sat her down next to his bag and went over to the edge to start looking for ingredients. Emily sat and watched her brother search through the shrubs and bushes. A sound from behind her caught her attention and she turned to see what was there. Bright yellow eyes blinked at her from above a grinning mouth with pearly points poking out from between the lips. When she opened her mouth to call for Angel, the creature raised a finger to its lips and made a shushing sound, and Emily closed her mouth, leaving Angel unaware of the visitor.

The creature watched Emily for a minute, and she was about to grow bored of the thing and turn away when it reached out a clawed hand and lay a little bag on the ground. It was a tiny brown cloth sack, about the size of a fist and drawn closed with a pretty green ribbon. Emily eyed the bag curiously. The creature nudged it a little closer and she crawled over to the bag. Loosening the ribbon, Emily opened the bag and reached inside. She pulled out a little glittery necklace with strange symbols on the charm piece and a few berries and a candy. She looked to the treats and then to the eyes in the underbrush, holding out her hand to offer the creature one first. The same clawed hand reached out and picked up a berry before gesturing for her to have one. Emily picked up another berry and popped it into her mouth. It was sweet and different than the berries she picked with her brother or sister. She ate another, the last of them, then picked up then necklace with the symbols. She looked to the face in the bushes, and the creature beckoned her closer. Emily crawled over, only a foot or two away from the creature.

“Do you need help? Putting it on?” The voice was low and quiet, but sweet. She looked at the clasp one the necklace and nodded. She wasn’t very good at putting on necklaces that clasped in the back. The creature held out its hand and Emily placed the chain in its palm before turning around and holding her hair up. Facing away from the creature, she could barely see Angel, still stooped over and now quite far from the edge of the clearing. She felt the weight of the chain resting around her throat as the necklace was clasped, and she dropped her hair and turned back around. She felt tired now, and heavy, like the necklace had made her whole body into something more solid, but she didn’t notice the soft light emitting from the symbols. She still tasted the berries.

“Did you like the fruit?” The creature came forward a bit and Emily could see more of its features: an angular face, pointed ears, a long, shadowy form. Emily wasn’t exactly scared, but the creature was beginning to make her uneasy. She wanted to move back a little, but her limbs felt like lead. The creature cocked its head and repeated its question. Emily nodded.

“I can show you the part of the forest where they grow. Would you like that?” Emily nodded again. _I can show Angel_ , she thought foggily. As if it knew what she was thinking, the creature added, “We can come back for your brother later. It will be a surprise.”

Emily frowned. She’d rather just bring Angel with her now, but the creature pointed out that he was still busy. Best to just let him finish and come back for him. Emily conceded, and the creature carefully picked her up. She leaned against its shoulder while it moved away from the clearing. The trees and plants seemed to blur around her, but it didn’t feel as if they were moving very fast. Still, it made her dizzy and she closed her eyes.

Soon, she felt herself be lowered down and placed on the ground. She opened her eyes with effort and looked around her. She was inside some kind of shelter made of stone and wood. The walls had symbols carved into them and charms hanging from them. One symbol in particular caught her eye. It was carved over another image, that of what looked like a sleeping or unconscious figure. It was also the largest symbol on the necklace the creature had given her.

Had she not been under the necklace’s influence, she might have put two and two together. However, she did notice that most of the more prominent symbols carved onto the walls were accompanied by pictures depicting figures being subdued, captured, or restrained. As it was, Emily grew uneasy once again and tried to get up from the corner she had been placed in. She tried to move her arms and raise herself up, but they wouldn’t respond. Barely able to move, fear settled in the pit of her stomach. She looked over at the creature watching her from the corner. The creature rose from its spot and moved toward her, eliciting a whimper from her as Emily tried to move away.

Meanwhile, Angel had been frantically searching the area around the clearing, calling Emily’s name. He had come back just after she was taken and saw that she was no longer sitting where he left her. Near the edge of the trees, however, was the small bag that the creature had given to Emily Dropping all the items he had found, Angel rushed over and snatched up the sack, feeling the remnants of some enchantment or other. Having been around Alex and his brothers for so long, Angel knew the signs of curses and charms. In the space of a few minutes, Angel had covered most of the area between the clearing and the creature’s shelter, using the bag and a simple tracking spell Alex had taught him (necessary knowledge with kids like Emily and Alex’s brothers). He stopped at the entrance to the shelter and looked around. This was where the spell led, so he called out to Emily.

The voice outside made the creature pause before reaching Emily. It turned towards the entrance and waited before peeking out of the entrance. It moved a little further out and Angel nearly walked into it.

“Oh… hi.”

The creature snarled indignantly and swatted at the boy’s legs. It growled at him and muttered for him to leave before a quiet whine emitted from the shelter. Angel looked to the creature for a moment and, not really having many options, tossed the bag at its face and pushed his way past it into the shelter. He grabbed Emily and got out of the shelter and the surrounding area as quickly as her could before stopping to check on his sister. He sat down next to a large tree and lowered her onto his lap looking her over worriedly. The first thing Angel noticed was the necklace with the symbols on the centerpiece, which he removed. The symbols looked like a sleeping spell that had been modified in some way. Alex could tell him more about it later. He proceeded to look for any injuries that Emily might have.

“Are you ok? Were you hurt?” he said, concerned. Without the influence of the necklace, Emily didn’t feel the heaviness or fatigue that she had in the shelter. She wiggled her hands and feet, then nodded. Then she launched forward and wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck for a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered, tears pricking her eyes now that the fear and sleepiness had worn off. “I didn’t mean to g-” Angel cut her off.

“It’s ok, don’t cry.” He held her close and rubbed her back. “I’m not mad. Just… maybe next time remember not to take presents from strange things in the woods, ok?”

Emily nodded, and Angel stood, still holding her tightly. He carried her back to the clearing and did his best to gather together their things with one hand while holding Emily in the other. Then the two headed home, where Emily would be given a talk about why accepting gifts from strangers was bad and Angel would receive a scolding about why not being able to see your prone-to-wander little sister at all times was also bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically nobody got poisoned, but I've kinda fugded the prompts on a lot of these already, so who cares.  
> Angel is a dumbass, Emily is a dumbass (but a baby dumbass, so she has an excuse). There were some scoldings after this whole ordeal.


	7. Doll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Human AU. Angel and Ahyoka get Emily a doll for her birthday. Then things happen

Emily stood in the doorway and stared at the figure sitting a few feet in front of her. It didn’t move, just sat there like… well, a doll. Its curly brown hair lay over its shoulders. The little blue and pink dress was completely without wrinkle, and the shiny porcelain skin was spotless. The shoes were a little worn, but almost all of the damage was on the soles, as if the person who had the doll before often “walked” it around. Overall, the doll looked nearly new, except for the shoes. Emily leaned down to pick it up, wondering where it came from. She looked around the room and saw a piece of paper resting on her pillow, which she also picked up.

Happy birthday, Emi! The note read in her brother’s hand writing. Below the message, Angel and Ahyoka had signed their names. Emily looked to the doll in her hand and smiled. She sat it down on the bed and left the room, closing the door behind her. Angel was sitting in the living room with Alex when she walked past to the kitchen.

“Thanks for the doll, Angel,” she called as she grabbed a juice from the fridge. She went into the living room and plopped down between Angel and his boyfriend. “But why’d you leave it in front of the door instead of with the note on the bed?” Angel looked at her, his annoyed expression changing to confusion.

“What do you mean? We did leave it on the bed.”

Emily shrugged. “Well, when I went to put my bag up, it was sitting right in front of my door. I almost walked over it.”

Angel frowned, and Alex spoke. “Maybe one of your parents moved it?”

“Maybe,” she said as she sipped her juice. When she returned to her room a few hours later, the doll was at the door again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks later, the doll had been moved to the basement, where it was surrounded by other items being stored and trapped in a cardboard box taped shut at the bottom of a stack. The weeks following the doll’s arrival had been filled with strange occurrences. It would appear in places where it was not left, even when there was nobody in the house to move it. Items in Emily’s room had been moved or knocked over. She complained about hearing noises at night and seeing the doll sitting in her window and facing her, as if watching. One night, after being woken up by a voice and feeling something touching her feet, Emily had started refusing to sleep alone or stay in a room alone when the doll was there. Other members of the household suffered strange experiences as well. Things would go missing or appear in odd places, scratching and small footsteps would be heard at night. After seeing how distraught Emily was becoming around the doll, Daniel suggested they move it to the basement, where it would be stored with other unused objects, waiting to be sold at some point.

Emily became visibly better when the doll had been removed from the main part of the house. She refused to go into the basement alone or at night, but the odd happening in the house did come to a stop and the family moved on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and a little rushed and vague at the end. I will expand this drabble at some point because I feel like I should. Besides, it seems fun.  
> Also, Elena and Daniel are Naduah and Onacona's non-Native names. They'll rarely be used by me outside of the human AU or certain cases in the original verse.


	8. Closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex, Angel, and their siblings (and Cat, who's I guess more like a cousin?) go out on a vacation for a couple of weeks, only to have some strange things happen surrounding a creepy closet in one of the rooms.

All of the kids avoided the closet. Even Miles, which was unusual. If he thought there was even the slightest change something other than normal was attached to the small space, he would be the first to try and investigate, even if it turned out to be a mouse in the walls. But he never got closer than a couple of yards to the closet if he could help it. Emily refused to even stay in the room by herself, as did Cat, who crossed herself every time she walked past the door. Andrew would stand near the door to the closet itself, but only if it was closed. Nearly a week into the trip, nobody wanted to sleep in the bedroom.

Alex and Angel were skeptical when the group of friends told them that they didn’t like the closet. Angel suggested that they had probably spooked themselves and that the closet itself didn’t have anything strange going on. The more Alex thought about it, however, the more concerned he became. Miles and Andrew had shared the room with the offending closet for the first few nights of their trip. It wasn’t long before both complained of noises coming from the direction of the closet. Emily and Cat were in the room adjacent to Andrew and Miles’, so Angel said it was probably the girls shuffling at night. Then Miles started hearing scratching, which was attributed to mice or other animals.

On the third day, Andrew came to breakfast looking like hell. He said he hadn’t slept well. Neither had Miles, but he was in better shape than Andrew. Andrew was irritable all through breakfast, and Alex suggested that the boys should change rooms with someone. Maybe a new bed would help them sleep.

That’s how Emily and Cat ended up in the Creepy Closet Room, as Miles had begun referring to it. The first night, both girls were woken by scratching. Only it wasn’t coming from the closet, like Miles and Andrew had described. It was coming from the end of the bed. Cat murmured a prayer under her breath while Emily clutched her hand. Eventually, the noise ceased, and both girls fell back into an uneasy sleep. Alex would note later that the boys hadn’t opened the closet while they stayed in the room, opting to keep their clothes in their suitcases or the dresser on the other wall. Emily and Cat had hung up some things in the closet, and that was the night that the scratching moved out of the closet.

Of course, if there really is a spirit in the closet, it may not be harmful, just curious or mischievous. But all four children were visibly uneasy when the closet was open or when they were near it. Again, not necessarily a sign of evil, but significant enough to make Alex worry. Which made Angel worry. So now there was a cabin full of worried people with a possibly haunted closet.

A few days after the girls had moved into the room with the activity, Alex sent the kids with Angel to go do something to keep them out of the cabin while he tried to find out what was frightening his brothers and their friends. In the room alone, in front of the open closet, Alex understood why it made the others uneasy. A negative presence surrounded the entire area. Most likely, something had happened in the past involving the closet, and now that energy was attached to it. Well, Alex could fix that. He cleansed the closet, and then the room as well, before placing charms on the door to the closet to keep anything that lingered at bay. The rest of the trip was spent in relative peace, with the only troublesome behavior now coming from the kids themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cat is Arizona and I need to use her more. Out of herself, Miles, Andrew, and Emily, she probably has the second most common sense. Oh, and this probably takes place in the Ozarks or something like that.  
> This, like many of the other drabbles, is very short. I might write and expanded version of this at some point.


	9. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily has a nightmare. Also, anxiety is a bitch

Emily gasped and shot up in bed. She was sweating, and her heart felt like it might beat out of her chest. Her breath was coming too fast. It took a few moments, but eventually her eyes adjusted to the dark and she took in the room around her. She was in her own room, in her own bed. Closing her eyes, she tried and failed to relax.

 _It was just a dream_ , she thought to herself. _Not real_. She looked around the room and groaned. Then why was she so upset!?

 _Just breath. One, two, three… One, two, three…_ She counted in her head. Eventually, her breathing evened out and her heart slowed, but the fear from her nightmare remained. She couldn’t even remember what she dreamed about, but she remembered being terrified.

The clock beside her bed said 2:17 am. Emily flopped back down on the bed and sighed. Pulling the covers back up from where she had kicked them in her sleep, she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. It wasn’t long before she realized she wasn’t going back to sleep right now. She was tired, but she still felt anxious and upset. She wanted to cry, or scream, or throw something.

Instead, she groaned again and got out of bed. Grabbing the throw blanket from the foot of her bed, along with a pillow, she stepped into the hallway, making her way to Angel’s door. She lifted her hand to knock, but hesitated.

 _He’s sleeping, you shouldn’t bother him_. She frowned and bit her lip. It would be rude to wake Angel up this early, and he would probably be annoyed. Besides, she was nearly fifteen, she shouldn’t be running to her parents or her brother every time she got upset or scared. She felt a little like crying again and hugged the pillow. And now she was giving herself a headache.

 _Emily! You’re gonna be up all night if you don’t do something. All you’re accomplishing while standing here is making things worse_. She sighed and knocked on the door. Waiting a moment, she knocked again, and a groan emitted from inside.

“What is it?”

“Can I come sleep with you?” Her voice was a small squeak, which she hadn’t meant for it to sound like. She glowered and scolded herself for sounding like a baby. Then the door opened, and Angel stood just inside the room, rubbing his face.

“And why do you need to come sleep in here?” he asked, tiredly. After blinking sleep away, he noticed Emily was visibly upset. He frowned. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Emily buried her face in the pillow, wanting nothing more than to lay down and sleep. She mumbled into the pillow. Angel rolled his eyes and picked her up, carrying her over to the bed before setting her down. He waited a bit for her to look up at him before repeating his question.

She bit her lip and said, “I… I had a bad dream. And now I can’t sleep because I feel bad. I’m not scared! Not really. I just…” She looked down as Angel sat beside her. Her cheeks were hot and she felt her eyes sting. “I’m tired,” she said quietly. Angel put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. Letting go of the pillow, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest, sniffling a little. He rubbed her back.

“It’s ok,” he whispered. “It was just a dream, whatever it was.”

“I know.” She was crying now, which upset her more. “I don’t know why I’m so upset. It’s stupid.”

Angel moved them further back so that they could lean against the head board while still using the comforter. “It’s not stupid, Emily. It’s ok to be upset about it.” He pulled a tissue out of the box on his nightstand and handed it to her. “Everyone has nightmares. You don’t have to be embarrassed by them, or by asking to sleep in- Gross, Em, don’t give it to me!”

She rolled her eyes. “Then move the freaking trash can over here.” Angel got up and pulled it over by the bed so she could throw away her tissues.

“Anyway, there’s no reason to be embarrassed, so you don’t have to worry.” He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly. “Now try to sleep, ok?”

She nodded and whispered, “Ok,” before laying down and pulling the cover up to her neck. Angel lay down next to her and let her move over closer before closing his eyes. Both were asleep soon, and Emily wasn’t bothered by anymore nightmares that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have projected a little on this one. Oops. Anyway, nothing particularly scary or angsty about this one, just Emily needing a hug.


	10. Basement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Expansion of the doll prompt. Gonna be honest, it got a lot longer and a lot darker than I thought it was going to. Anyway, after Emily gets a haunted doll for her birthday, strange things start happening, and she's getting blamed. This is still a Human AU.  
> Just in case, be warned that Emily gets injured a few times (nothing major) and also gets blamed for a lot of things that are happening.

Emily went to her room after 11, having been allowed to stay up later than usual since it was her birthday. She had watched a movie with her family in the living room and, before that, Andrew, Miles, Heni, and Cat had come over for a little while. It had been a good day, but a long one, and she was ready to go to bed. When she got there, she nearly tripped over the doll Angel and Ahyoka had gotten her. _Weird_ , she thought, _I could have sworn I set it on the bed_. One of her siblings may have moved it, probably Angel, since she had already told him about it. She shrugged and moved the doll to a small chest, setting it on top with some other dolls and stuffed animals, then changed into pajamas before turning on her Christmas lights. She had been afraid of the dark for as long as she could remember, so every year, she got a string of lights for her birthday to hang up over her bed. Once she had finished getting ready, she climbed onto the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes.

Later, the sound of rustling woke her up. She blinked blearily and sat up. Looking around for the source of the noise, she saw the doll sitting on the ground beside the chest she had placed it on. _Must have fallen off_ , she thought. She crawled out of bed and picked the doll up. There was an odd feeling around it, and it seemed almost as if the doll were watching her. Placing it back on the chest, she went back to bed. The same thing happened a couple of hours later. This time, as she turned around after replacing the doll, there was the rustling and a thump. Looking back, she saw the doll sitting on the ground, beside the chest. Frowning, she paused. She had put it between two other toys this time, in the center of the chest. It shouldn’t have fallen off. Emily shook her head, then lay back down and went to sleep, too tired to worry about that now. She’d fix it in the morning. She didn’t think about the fact that each time, the doll had been sitting perfectly upright, as if it had been placed on the ground instead of falling over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily was tired in the morning. After the last time the doll fell, she hadn’t slept well, but she didn’t know why. Elena asks what’s wrong, and Emily just shrugs and says she didn’t sleep well because the doll kept falling over. She mentions moving it again this morning, and that she thought it was weird because it seemed to be further away from the chest than it was last night. She tells her mother about putting it between two other toys in the middle of the chest, but still hearing it fall off a few moments later.

“Maybe it’s a ghost doll~” Angel chimes from his seat at the breakfast table.

Emily rolls he eyes. “It’s not a ghost doll. You would have gotten scared of it if it was,” she said. Elena shushes them before a fight can break out. Ahyoka suggests the doll just doesn’t set well. That still doesn’t explain how it landed so far from the chest. Or in the same upright position each time. No one admits to moving it the day before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she goes back to her room the doll is sitting on her bed, staring directly at the door. Emily hesitates before entering further. She had put the doll inside the chest this time. There was no way it could have gotten out on its own, let alone to her bed. Ahyoka walks down the other end of the hall and Emily goes to stop her.

“Are you or Angel moving the doll? Because it’s not funny anymore.”

Ahyoka frowns. “I haven’t even seen the doll since I put it in your room. And Angel hasn’t been in it all day or last night.” She continues on her way and Emily goes back to her room. She gasps and nearly falls when she stumbles back. The doll was standing right in front of her door when she opened it. Looking up.

Emily snatched it off the ground and threw it in the closet, piling some clothes on top, before shutting the door.

Rustling and thumps do not wake her up that night.

But the scratching does.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily looks worse the next morning. Daniel asks if she slept any better last night and she simply groans into her bowl. She says she doesn’t like the doll. It makes too much noise. Angel rolls his eyes and says she’s imagining it. He’ll put it in his room, just so she’ll drop it. The morning after that, Angel reports hearing nothing out of the ordinary before they head off to school.

When they get back, the doll is in Emily’s room. Angel didn’t put it there. There’s a note beside it that reads _telling lies_ in scribbled handwriting. Later, Emily will get scolded for cutting a piece of fabric off on of her curtains to write the message.

She insists it was already there when she got home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are scratches on her walls and her closet door. She gets in trouble for that.

A figurine on her dresser is broken. Not irreparably, but broken. She gets in trouble for that.

Her parents ask why she’s been like this. Is there something she needs to talk about? Is something happening at school? She insists that everything if fine. Everything except that doll. Her parents are worried. Why is she lying?

Then the little girl starts showing up. She looks just like the doll. She looks nice. Talks nice. Pretends to be nice. She’s not.

A plate is broken. Emily is the only one in the kitchen. She’s standing on the other side of the kitchen from where the plate is shattered on the ground, wide-eyed and pale. She is grounded for throwing the plate.

She tearfully insists it was picked up, taken out of the cabinet and dropped.

“By the doll?”

“By her!” She points to the corner, where the girl stands, smiling sweetly. Mockingly. She looks Emily straight in the eye and whispers, barely audible as she speaks in unison with Angel:

_Quit telling lies._

_I’m not_. She doesn't say that, though. No one believes it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elena calls the school, wondering if something is happening there that is making Emily act up. The person who answers says they were going to ask the same thing about her home life.

“Her teachers are worried about her.”

She hasn’t been causing trouble. But her grades are slipping. She has bruises under her eyes and she can barely stay awake in class. She cries at seemingly random times. Her friends say she won’t talk when they hang out; now she doesn’t even sit with them. She says there’s a little girl following her. There are pictures of her that she drew.

The school recommends counseling. They don’t want to believe something is being done to her at home. _Keep an eye on her_ , the official said, _and Ahyoka and Angel, too. You never know; children are good at hiding things_. Then they say something that chills Elena.

She has bruises. Mostly on her arms and legs. She won’t talk about them because she says no one will believe her. Elena takes her aside when she gets home and asks about the bruises. Emily blinks. Her mother asks if she’s being bullied, or if someone at home has been hurting her. She doesn’t want to believe either of her other children would do that to anybody, especially their little sister. Daniel wouldn’t do something like this, either. Elena couldn’t remember hearing him ever raise his voice in anger. He wouldn’t hurt Emily.

Emily remains silent as her mother examines her arms, and then her legs. After affirming that no one has been bullying her, she’s asked if someone at home did this. Emily continues to stare at the wall behind her mother, where the little doll girl stands and stares back. Emily wants to say yes, someone at home is bruising her, but she knows she won’t be believed. No one ever believes what she says about the girl. But she can’t lie and say someone at school did it. It isn’t true, and she didn’t want to get anybody in trouble. She won’t say Angel or Ahyoka hurt her either. She shouldn’t cause trouble for them.

She shouldn’t cause trouble.

The little girl smiles and nods at her. Be a good girl. Don’t make trouble. Don’t tell lies.

“I fell down the stairs.”

Elena is skeptical. Someone would have heard that, right?

The next day, while getting ready for school, Ahyoka _does_ see Emily fall down the stairs.

Except it looked like she was pushed. Nobody was there, though, so she must have fallen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily doesn’t want to go to the doctor. She said it didn’t hurt, nothing was broken or bleeding. But she limped when she walked, and she looked like she’d pass out. Angel carried her to the car while Daniel got Elena and Ahyoka ran alongside him, whimpering and fretting over her sister. Angel sat her down in the back seat and ran around the other side to check her head while Ahyoka climbed in and held Emily up. When Angel opened the door, Ahyoka paled and pointed at his shirt, tears coming out her eyes as she tried to get words out. Angel looked down. There was blood on his shirt where he had cradled Emily’s head. Not a lot, but still. Daniel and Elena got to the car at that time and saw Angel’s shirt.

Elena breaks several speed limits on the way to the hospital. Daniel has his seat leaned back and is turned around, helping Angel keep Emily awake. Angel thinks the sleepiness is probably mostly from not sleeping well the past week, but just in case, they shouldn’t let her fall asleep.

Emily looks to the side and sees the girl. She’s sitting next to Ahyoka and still smiling.

_Shame on you; you caused such a fuss_.

“I’m sorry.” Angel blinks as Emily mutters the apology.

He shifts her position, so he can put pressure on the cut. It’s not bleeding a lot but she’s not in any shape to be bleeding from her head at all. “Don’t be sorry, Emi, it’s not your fault. It was an accident.”

Emily looks up from the girl to her brother. It is her fault. Because the girl pushed her, and everything the girl does is her fault.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Someone at the hospital calls someone else, and her parents are being interviewed. Angel says not to worry, they just want to make sure she is safe, and that he and Ahyoka are safe. It’s hard for Emily not to worry when her brother looks so worried. He knows they’ll probably want to talk to him to.

Emily has a bandage on her head. She got a few stitches and was praised by the nurse for not squirming or crying while she got them. The truth is, she’s too tired to cry. The doctor is a little amazed that she didn’t have any bone fractures or sprains, just bad bruising. She talks to Emily privately, while her parents and siblings are outside. She asks if everything is ok at home, if Emily feels safe.

“We won’t let them stay with you alone if you don’t want them to.”

Emily is tired of people asking if home is ok. She’s tired of lying. But no one believes her when she tells the truth. _Stop telling lies, Emily_.

Emily manages to convince the doctor that she’s safe. The girl sits in the corner watching. Emily tries to ignore her, even though that’s what made her mad enough to push her down the stairs. She comes over to Emily and grabs her arm, squeezing tight.

_You shouldn’t ignore people. Be polite, Emily_.

Another rule.

“Sorry.”

Someone might have noticed the new bruises that showed up while no one was there, if there weren’t already so many.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things start breaking again. But Emily can’t be doing it. She’s either been in her room or practically attached to someone else in the house every time it happens. Elena and Daniel are beginning to wonder if she was telling the truth about before. Before all this started, Emily never caused such trouble. She was mischievous, of course. But she wasn’t angry or violent. She didn’t throw things. And the injuries. If no one was abusing Emily, then they had to be self-inflicted, but there were things she couldn’t have done herself. Besides, the doctors she had gone to said she showed no sign of hurting herself. She seemed scared and paranoid, but not angry or depressed.

She wasn’t like this before her birthday. Before the doll.

There’s a crash and shouting from the kitchen. When Elena and Daniel got to the entryway, Angel was on his knees holding Emily, pressing a wet towel to one of her hands. Her arms were bleeding a little, small cuts oozing red, and she was sobbing. On the floor beside them were several bloody shards of a broken plate. Angel was still picking pieces out of her other arm. He was visibly shaken.

“What happened?” He looked up, as if just noticing his parents for the first time. He was pale. Pointing to the other side of the kitchen, at the cabinet with the plates, he breathed in shakily.

“It just… fell down. L-like it was thrown. A-and and then, Emily fell and…” Angel trailed off, turning his attention back to his sister. Ahyoka arrived then and gasped at the scene.

Emily muttered something over and over, making both adults hesitate: “She pushed me. She pushed me.”

“Who did?” asked Elena, kneeling carefully beside her children as Daniel grabbed a broom and dustpan to clean up the ceramic. “Baby, who pushed you?” It couldn’t have been Ahyoka or herself.

Emily shook her head and whimpered as Angel pulled the last piece out. It was a good thing her shots were up to date. “You won’t believe me.”

Elena’s heart ached. How could they let this happen? “I’ll believe you, Sweetheart. I promise. What happened?” Angel wrapped wet towels around the worst of it and shifted Emily aside as Elena picked Emily up into her lap. She clung to her mother and sobbed into her shoulder.

“That girl! The one who came with the doll. She pushed me, now and when I fell down the stairs. And she squeezes my arms and legs and hurts me, and she breaks things and gets me in trouble.” Elena did her best to make all this out, as Emily had her face pressed into her shoulder. She stroked her daughter’s hair and rocked her gently.

“I believe you. Shh, it’s ok, it’s ok. We’ll fix this.” She really did believe her. It explained everything that had happened since the doll arrived. “We’ll fix this.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The family stayed the next few nights with Francis and his family, who was more than happy to welcome them. Emily slept with her parents every night, but she was becoming visibly better. The bruises were fading, and she was sleeping and eating much better. The cuts from the broken plate were healing well, and it turned out that they didn’t need professional attention, being rather shallow.

An exorcism was performed on their home, and the doll, which had been boxed up and placed in the basement, was removed. When they returned, Francis insisted on staying over to help keep an eye on things.

“Besides,” he said. “It will be good if Emily has some friends with her the first day or two back, especially after such terrible events.” Francis seemed to accept the idea that the family had been harassed by a haunted doll much more easily than they did, but then again, nearly all his children were into magic or the supernatural in one way or another.

Everyone was very pleased when the first few days were perfectly free from paranormal activity. Emily took a few days to get used to sleeping in her room by herself again, but her parents were more than willing to put up with it after everything. Eventually, they all settled back into their normal routine, and the house remained spirit-free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was six fucking pages/2800 words in Word, appreciate it, please. Also, I need to not write these at night.


	11. Childhood Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily has several fears stemming from childhood. Some have good reasons, others have just always been there. Mentions of death, child death, sickness.

Emily is afraid of fire. She has been since the early 1900s.

Well, she’s not afraid of fire itself, but of destructive fires. Fires that blaze out of control. Fires that are started to hurt people, to cause trouble or fear.

Every summer, the land burns. Her people had gotten good at preparing for the fires, and good at fighting them. Still, how many of the fires were started by people ignoring burn bans? How many were caused by negligence? How many were preventable?

She shouldn’t complain; most of the western states had the same problem. Some southern states were beginning to have that problem.

Fires in the past had also made her wary. People were cruel. It was bad time for the whole nation. Like every other state, there were many things in the past that made her wonder “what if?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily is afraid of deep water. And dark water. She doesn’t know when she became scared of it, she just is.

She’s a fairly dry state, and many of her lakes are man-made. She’s landlocked. Her experience with large, deep bodies of water is small. When she first sees the ocean, she is anxious but awed. But then she learns just how big it is, and how dark, and she stays within a few yards of shore.

Angel promises it’s safe as long as she listens and pays attention to the water. She still doesn’t like it. It’s too big and dark.

Emily prefers land and lakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily is afraid of the dark, and of being alone. She doesn’t know why, she just knows she is.

The first home she lives in has no electricity. Sunlight, starlight, and candlelight is all there is. She spends most nights with her parents or sister. Then she goes to sleep one night, cuddled with Ahyoka, and wakes up in the night, alone. Her sister’s body is still there, of course, but her sister isn’t. Emily cries for her parents, because it’s dark and Ahyoka won’t wake up.

When she becomes a state, the people in charge says she needs to live with a state, and Alfred promises she can live with Angel. She still doesn’t sleep alone. Angel doesn’t mind letting her share his room. She’s been through a lot recently, and little kids shouldn’t be alone a lot, anyway.

Eventually, she does get her own room. The first few nights, she sleeps poorly, sometimes coming to Angel’s room for comfort. He goes to Alex for advice, and Alex gives Emily a little bag of rocks and shows her how to use magic to make them glow. She learns how to make them shine green and pink and blue, and she places them around her room at night.

She’s still scared of the dark, and she still doesn’t like being alone, but she can do something about it, now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily is afraid of death. Which is strange, considering she’s basically immortal.

She doesn’t understand death as a child. She knows what pain is, and that things can hurt, but she doesn’t understand that some things can kill. She’s never seen death, not even the temporary death that her kind experiences. Not personally.

Then Ahyoka dies. She gets sick, and then she doesn’t wake up one day. Emily is told that she’s not going to wake up at all, though her parents still have a little hope that they know is false. They bury Ahyoka and Emily cries.

The Great War, as Alfred calls it, starts. It’s supposed to be the war to end all wars. Emily doesn’t understand much about the war, or war in general. She knows that someone made somebody else upset, and then their friends were upset, and now Europe is fighting. Her mother rolls her eyes.

One of the Europeans brings a note. “Telegram,” Angel calls it. Alfred is outraged. Emily listens as people talk about what happened. One of the nations wants Alfred and Eduardo to fight, so Alfred will leave Europe alone. But they already fight all the time, and Alfred insisted he doesn’t want any part of Europe’s problem. The telegram is enough to change that, and the US enters the Great War. Angel leaves for Europe, against their parents’ wishes.

He comes back in a box and Emily can only think of Ahyoka and her funeral. She cries and cries. But instead of getting ready for another funeral, her parents took his body home and laid him out on his bed. Put him in clean clothes and kept watch in the room. Emily didn’t understand. The dead don’t come back.

She’s sitting on the floor by her father’s feet, fiddling with a cup of water, when there’s movement and a gasp from the bed. Emily looks up and jumps when Angel gasps and sits up, less pale but stiff and sore. He rubs his face and looks around, promptly receiving a cup of water to the face as Emily shrieked. Onacona, who had been sleeping, jolts awake and has the pleasant duty of calming both his daughter and newly resurrected son while Naduah rushes in, having heard Emily scream.

It’s a long day.

The stock market crashes and the Dust Bowl rolls in. Emily gets sick. A lot of states get sick. Her parents fret over her, and Angel won’t leave her side for very long. Everything hurts.

It hurts to breathe. It’s exhausting to breathe, to stay awake. She tries to get in enough air and ends up hacking into a handkerchief. A few years in, and she can’t even hold the cloth to her own face anymore. Angel props her up in his lap while she coughs into the cloth.

She’s tired and she can’t breathe. Angel helps her lay down and promises to stay with her. He promises to be there when she wakes up. She closes her eyes.

He is there when she wakes up, days later. She cries and clings to him in spite of the aching pain throughout her body.

She’s still sick, but it’s not as bad. Her body had time to heal a little before resurrecting.

She’s afraid to sleep for a few days, but slowly, she gets better.


	12. Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Oklahoma and Indian Territory were merged to create the state of Oklahoma, Emily was so excited. But then she learned that one land usually meant one personification, and now her sister is dead. Her family watches as she withdraws into herself, not knowing how to help, or how to convince her that it wasn't her fault.

Emily lay on the bed, curled beneath the sheets and hugging the pillow. She hadn’t moved from this spot for the better part of three days, with the only exceptions being bathroom breaks or when her parents managed to sit her up to eat and drink. Other than that, she had refused to move, just simply laid there and stared out the window.

Ahyoka was gone. She wasn’t coming back.

And it was Emily’s fault.

It had been a few years since the girls’ territories had merged to create what was now the state of Oklahoma. Emily had been so excited. She was going to be a state! Better yet, she and her sister were both going to be a state. She hadn’t known that two separate personifications for one State/Nation/whatever was rare. She hadn’t known what would happen. That November day, Alfred had congratulated her, as had a few other states, and Angel and her parents (though they were much more subdued in his excitement). Emily had run around the house, waving her copy of the paper that bore her signature, that made her a state. She hadn’t thought it was strange that Ahyoka hadn’t signed. She charged into her older sister’s room and clasped her little arms around Ahyoka’s hips, chattering about how they would be like Angel now. And Ahyoka, to her credit, smiled back at Emily and congratulated her as well. Told Emily how proud she was of her.

And soon after, Ahyoka got sick. Over the next few years, she got worse. Eventually, Emily realized that she and Ahyoka were not sharing the position of personification for the new state. And she learned what happened to personifications who lost their land or people.

Towards the end, Emily had insisted on staying with Ahyoka as much as possible, often sharing the bed with her sister. Three nights ago, they went to sleep, and the next morning, only Emily woke up.

Her sister was gone, and Emily was benefiting from her death.

Of course, a small child can’t quite make sense of that, or at least, can’t quite understand how to deal with it. And so, Emily did the best she could. She stayed huddled in the last place she had seen her sister alive, and she closed off from everything else. Her mother and father had tried to get her to move, had tried to lift her spirits. But what could they do when she refused to let them help? How can you comfort someone when you don’t know what they’re thinking?

As Emily lay curled in her seemingly permanent post, she was vaguely aware of her brother standing in the doorway, watching. Like her parents, Angel had been worried about Emily as well. Their whole family had grieved Ahyoka, and now it was beginning to look like they would lose Emily as well. Not physically; As long as Oklahoma remained a state and avoided any extremely hard times, her status as a personification would keep her alive. But she was a child, and a child shouldn’t feel like Emily felt. Angel, like Emily, had watched Ahyoka fade away, and he wasn’t sure he could watch Emily do the same in spirit.

He moved from the doorway to the bed and sat next to where Emily lay. She didn’t acknowledge his presence. She just curled in on herself a little bit more. The two siblings stayed quiet, Emily lost in her own mind, and Angel thinking of what he could say. What could he say? He glanced out the window Emily was staring out of. He watched the stars shine in the sky, and briefly wondered if Emily was making wishes. Stars… he had an idea!

Finally, Angel cleared his throat and placed a hand on Emily’s shoulder. “Emily?” She said nothing, just glanced at his hand and then looked back to the window. He tried again, this time gently shaking her shoulder. “Huutsuu?... Nami, please answer me. At least look at me.”

Emily could here the sadness in his voice, and what seemed to be desperation. She didn’t want to look at him. She didn’t want to look at her parents. She didn’t want to look at them because if she did, she would feel a new rush of guilt sweep over her as her mind forced up memories of her older siblings together, of her parents with their oldest daughter, and that  would remind her that because of her, they would never be able see Ahyoka again. But Angel persisted in his quest for her attention, and finally, with a familiar annoyance, she turned her head just a bit and looked at him.

Angel smiled. He got off the bed and knelt down, lowering his head until he was level with hers. He glanced out the window and then back at Emily. “Sky sure is pretty at night, ain’t it? The moon and all the stars and whatnot. Right, Nami?” Emily looked to the sky and then to Angel, nodding.

Angel took this as a good sign and continued. “I got something neat to show you. It’s about the stars and the moon and all that. Do you wanna go see? Please, Huutsuu. Please”

Emily didn’t really want to go anywhere, but it was beginning to sound like Angel was on one of his kicks where he wouldn’t let a subject go, and she really didn’t want him to harass her while she felt like this. She looked away from him, and thought, not moving. Then, she nodded, and Angel looked like he had just won the lottery.

“Great! But uh… we gotta go outside, sister. I can’t show you all of it just through the window.” Angel held his breath. Emily had rarely left the room since Ahyoka passed, let alone the house. But again, after more thinking, Emily nodded, and Angel breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up, but Emily made no move to get off the bed. She just sat up, letting the covers cling to her, and still hugging the pillow. She looked up at him expectantly.

“Why aren’t y-… of course. What did I expect?” Although he was annoyed, Angel was too happy to have gotten this far to let it faze him. He scooped Emily up, pillow and all, and made his way out of the house, first grabbing a glass of water and some food.

He found a spot and sat down, laying Emily beside himself. He leaned back and got comfortable and looked to the sky. After a few seconds, he pointed up and spoke.

“You see the face on the moon?” Emily shook her head. Angel began gesturing at the moon. “Yeah, see? Those dark spot right there, those are the eyes. And there, there’s the mouth. Hmm… doesn’t look like there’s a nose. Anyway, see it now?”

Emily watched as he motioned to different spots of the shining circle, and she began to put the features together. She gasped. “H- how’d that person get up there?” Her voice was quiet and scratchy from lack of use.

Angel looked over at her and laughed. As he handed the glass, he explained. “No, Nami, there’s not actually anyone up there. It just looks like the moon has a face.”

Emily took the glass and frowned. “But-” she had pause to cough, and Angel motioned to the water, which she sipped at. “But why? Why does it have a face?”

Angel contemplated this for a moment and said “I’m not sure. Ask Papa or Mama, I’m sure they know. Now do you see that reddish-looking star? That’s Mars.” And Angel continued to point out features and constellations, and Emily watched, almost forgetting her grief. After a while, the two lay in the grass silently. Angel had begun to think Emily had fallen asleep, until she spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

Angel turned to look at her. “What? Why? You didn’t do anything.” He could see tears welling up in her eyes.

Emily buried her face in the pillow she still clung to. “Ahyoka is gone. It’s my fault.” She said something else, but it was muffled by the pillow.

Angel blinked, taken aback. That’s what she had been so upset about for the past three days? Everyone had just assumed she was taking Ahyoka’s death harder then they were, which apparently was true.

“Nami, it’s not your fault. There was nothing you could do about it.” He reached out and pulled her closer, and she pressed her face into his shirt, sniffling. “Sometimes that just how it is. They wanted one state, you couldn’t change that. How could it be your fault?” Angel hugged her tightly. “It’s not your fault.”

Emily stayed silent, having run out of tears days ago. Instead, she curled in closer to her brother and clung to him. Angel held her close and whispered again that it wasn’t her fault before humming quietly. Soon, both had fallen asleep in the grass, where their parents woke them in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've posted this In "Oklahoma Drabbles" already, but it fits the prompt and I'm behind, so here ya go. Nami is a Comanche word for little sister.


	13. Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampire AU again. A little more in depth, and we get a little insight into Naduah's past and who saw Colonneh as he went home.

“Don’t go out tonight after dark.” That’s what her mother had told her siblings and her. Huutsuu didn’t know how to fly or shapeshift yet, and neither she nor Ahyoka knew how to fight or defend themselves. Colonneh had started training to protect himself, but Naduah wasn’t certain he could hold his own against a more experienced vampire. So, they stayed indoors, snuffing out candles as night fell, bolting shut doors and windows.

The children didn’t understand why they had to stay inside this time of year. their mother became nervous and anxious every year, while their father did his best to offer comfort. All they new was that there was something that came around every year, and their parents were afraid of it. They didn’t talk about it around the children. They rarely talked about it at all. Whenever one of the kids did ask about it, the subject was usually changed. But Colonneh was insistent this year, and Naduah finally relented.

“You aren’t wholly vampire, you know that.”

“So?” he frowned, unsatisfied. What did that have to do with anything?

Naduah sighed. “So, many of our kind frown upon that. It’s considered taboo for a vampire to be with a human, and it’s considered to be nearly a crime to create a child with one. It _is_ a crime, in some places.”

Colonneh frowned again, though he supposed that was a good reason for his family to be wary of other vampires. When he was younger, he asked why they didn’t live with a clan, like his mother talked about in her youth. Now, he understood why, but not why they had to hide for a few weeks every year.

“I knew I’d have to leave home when I chose to stay with your father, but then I found out I was pregnant, and that could have gotten both of us killed.” She sighed and sat down, rubbing her forehead. “The clan I was born to believed that children born between a human and a vampire—dhampirs, children like you and your sisters—are a danger to vampires as a people. Every year, they migrate through this area, and if one of them found you, or your sisters or-,” she paused and took a breath. “It’s dangerous for us to be found by any of my kind, but it will be worse if my clan finds us. So, you have to stay indoors until they pass, and make sure your sisters are safe. Promise me you won’t go out until it’s safe.”

Colonneh could hear the pleading in his mother’s voice, and he nodded. “I promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few years later, Colonneh has learned to hold his own in a fight, while Ahyoka is learning to use certain powers. Unlike her siblings, Huutsuu cannot yet use any vampiric powers (though she almost levitated for a minute—perhaps she’d learn). Being half-vampire apparently did not mean she literally had half the powers of a vampire. It didn’t mean she or her siblings had half the traits of humans, either. Colonneh was visibly pale for what a human should be, and he was sensitive to sunlight, though exposure rarely resulted in much worse than painful sunburns. Still, aside from his eyes, he seemed mostly normal. Ahyoka looked mostly human, but her teeth were unusually large, and she was unnaturally fast and strong for a child her age. Huutsuu looked perfectly human, and aside from being a bit faster and stronger than a human child, she had yet to demonstrate any vampiric abilities. All children could eat human food and be satisfied longer than Naduah, but it still didn’t last as long as blood.

After much prodding and pleading, Naduah and Onacona agreed that Colonneh could go out during the month the family hid, but only if he returned before midnight and didn’t travel far. He had met another boy who lived outside of town, and though he wouldn’t admit it, his parents could tell he liked him a lot. Remembering the time after they had just met, neither parent could find it in themselves to force him to stay home. Colonneh left a few hours before sunset, promising to return before midnight.

As the month went by, he only broke that promise once, when he stumbled onto what seemed to be a human camp. Odd that they’d be out this far from town, considering there had been stories going around of people being attacked by something in the woods (he and his family knew it was vampires from the description, most likely those from his mother’s old clan). Still, he didn’t seem to wake anyone, so he backed away and started to skirt the site. He encountered no one, and once he was far enough away, he raced through the woods to get back home. He doesn’t know he’s being followed.

Naduah greets him at the door while clutching a dagger before gasping. She pulls him inside and shuts the door quickly, but it’s open just long enough for the stranger who followed Colonneh to get a good look at Naduah. Good enough to recognize her. The boy had made them curious. There was something familiar in his face, the way he moved. Seeing Naduah greet him at the little house had been a shock; no one expected her to survive on her own after she left the clan. The more the stranger thought about what they had just seen, the more intrigued they became. It was suspected she was pregnant when she left with that human. This boy would be about the right age… They moved closer to the home, crouching under a shaded window. They couldn’t see into the house, but they could hear plenty. A young man’s voice, apologizing. _Must be the boy, Colonneh, she’d called him_ , they thought. Then there are two small voices, possibly little girls or maybe boys.

“-sisters were worried-,”

 _Girls_. There’s Naduah’s voice; it hasn’t changed much. And then there’s a man’s voice, worried but still calming Naduah. One of the girls calls him papa. _I guess she didn’t come to her senses. She never was good at listening_.

The stranger waits a little longer by the window before rising and turning away. They head back to the campsite, empty as the rest of the clan is off hunting. They went to their own shelter and sat, thinking about what had just passed. Not only was Naduah alive and still with the human, but she had created at least three dhampirs. The stranger scowled at the word. _Dhampirs. A curse on their people, that’s what those things were! Vampires were not meant to mate with humans. And here she had gone and created three of those_ \- They breathed in deeply. No need getting worked up over this. Besides, perhaps they were looking at this the wrong way. It had been so long since anyone in the clan had seen Naduah, and no one had met her family.

 _Perhaps I should pay a visit_. The stranger grinned in the darkness, though there was no warmth in it.

 _Maybe next year_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do plan on continuing this, but I don't know if it will be for this challenge. I might make a separate story for it at some point. Once again, thanks to @texass-shenanigans for helping me with world-building.


	14. Resurrection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily contracted dust pneumonia during the dust bowl and survival rates are low, especially for children.

Emily is laying in bed next to Angel. Her eyes are closed and she’s barely conscious, but she feels his warmth next to her. Her breathing comes in rattling wheezes and it feels like there’s not enough air. Angel had given her medicine to help with the pain in her chest and to help her sleep. Slowly, her breathing evens out as she falls asleep, and Angel shifts them both to a more comfortable position. He tries to sleep as well, but he knows it won’t happen, so instead, he holds his sister and listens to her breathing. It’s quiet and shallow, barely audible at all. He knows that the pneumonia has taken a lot out of her, and he knows that recovery is unlikely at this point; he only knows of a few cases of dust pneumonia where the person survived. None of them were children.

But he doesn’t want to think about that now, so he returns to listening for Emily’s breathing.

It isn’t there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily gasps, and immediately delves into hacking coughs as her throat burns. Everything hurts. Her throat is raw and sore. Her body aches and her chest heaves. It feels like she can’t get enough air, like she’s been holding her breath for a long time. Her head hurts from the rush of blood and her heart beats like it’s been kickstarted. There’s the taste of dirt and blood in her mouth and she doesn’t know why.

The first thing she’s aware of outside of the pain is arms wrapping around her and holding her closely. She doesn’t know who’s there or where she is or what’s happening, but there’s comfort in the embrace. Someone strokes her hair and whispers soothingly as she clings to them and sobs. Slowly, things become familiar, as if a fog is being lifted. She remembers this room. She slept in here while she was sick. Her face screws up in a grimace.

She was sick. She still felt sick. Her chest ached so badly, and every time she breathed too quickly or too deeply, coughs racked her body until she could barely breathe at all. Someone had to have taken care of her when she was sick, because she could barely sit up on her own. Looking up made her head spin, but she got a good look at the person holding her. Her brain works sluggishly, but she recognizes Angel and connects some dots. She stops crying but keeps as firm a hold as she can muster on his shirt.

Angel realizes that Emily will probably start crying again if he leaves and makes her stay in here alone, and a stuffy nose will only make it harder for her to breathe, so he picks her up and carries her with him. He asks her questions like if she knows where she is or if she knows who he is. He’s glad that most of those receive affirmative answers. She doesn’t know the day or time, though, and Angel isn’t sure she knows what happened after she fell asleep.

It’s been four days. Angel explains that the reason she aches so bad and that she was so confused was because Her body was restarting. It’s hard to explain to a child what death is in the first place, harder to explain that they themselves had died and resurrected. Emily is understandably distressed, but quickly deems her current discomfort more important than a death she already died. Angel sets her on the table in the kitchen and finds something for her to eat that won’t be difficult to digest after not eating anything for over four days. Settling on milk and some bread and hoping she wouldn’t throw it up, Angel let her eat while he found himself something as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHORT again. Oh well.  
> So, I personally would think that waking up after literally dying would probably be a painful experience, depending on what the cause of death was, and would definitely be a disorienting one. Emily's first death was during the Dust Bowl, when she died from dust pneumonia. She would have been about... 6-7ish years old? Yeah, not a pleasant experience.


	15. Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily, Miles, and Andrew sneak out to go ghost hunting, but they don't exactly get what they were looking for.

Most of their little adventures led them into the woods, or some creepy abandoned structure, or some creepy abandoned structure in the woods. To be fair, though, where else would they go for some supernatural activity?

Miles lead the way, like always, while Andrew took up the rear and Emily stayed between them. She was in the middle because, as Andrew had discovered, she had the habit of wandering off when no one was looking, much like Miles did, so it was best to keep them both in his line of site.

For this trip, Miles had suggested they go out into the woods and “just wing it.” Because that was a good idea. They brought all the essentials that they would need throughout the night: a camera, and recorder, snacks, holy water, various good luck amulets and other items meant for protection, and some meant to call spirits or supernatural creatures. They met up in Miles’ room at 11 at night, knowing Alex and Angel would either be asleep from a long day or too busy to hear them leave. The trio had perfected the art of sneaking out without disturbing the rest of the house, and they were through the bedroom window and on the ground in no time, heading off into the woods.

They’d come to an agreement that if they hadn’t found any areas of interest before 2 o’clock or so, they’d preform a summoning or something where they were and go from there. Still, they’d prefer to find an odd clearing where little grew, or a strangely twisted patch of trees with a sinister aura, or perhaps a spot where animals fled from and that was unnaturally still. The group walked off into the night, staying quiet and staying together.

It’d be a lie to say any of them were perfectly at ease. True, they’d gotten used to some things about ghost hunting, like ghosts themselves, or the odd activity that accompanies a haunting or attachment. However, they’d also become very familiar with just what all is out there in the world that eyes cannot see. No matter how many times you’ve come into contact with one, you don’t get comfortable around demons. You never get to be at ease with the idea of possession, demonic or otherwise. All three had seen demonic possession, of course; hell, each of them had _been_ possessed at some point (not a pleasant experience, by the way). While they were confident that they could protect themselves against many supernatural threats, they also knew that some things are more than they could handle. That wouldn’t necessarily deter them, but usually they were less likely to do incredibly stupid things when they knew it could mean permanent spiritual or physical damage.

After walking for an hour, they came upon a clearing in the woods. From what they could tell, there was nothing particularly unusual about it, but they decided to stop anyway. Setting their packs down, Andrew dug through the bags for something the trio could snack on while they came up with a game plan. He passed around some granola bars, and Miles spoke.

“So, I’m thinking we just ask around to see if anything’s here in the first place. If yes, then we communicate with whatever’s already present; if no, then we can either move on or perform a summoning here. Sound good?” The other two nodded. They finished their snacks and retrieved a recording device and camera from the packs. Emily held the camera while Miles spoke into the recorder. Andrew held a flashlight and a video camera, which he started rolling when Miles started the recorder.

“Alrighty, then. So, my name is Miles and this little doohickey that I’m holding is a device that you or y’all can use to talk back to us. What I’m gonna do is ask some questions, and if anyone’s here, they can answer them.” He motioned for Emily to take pictures. Typically, she just took photos of the general area, randomly or when they were actively trying to interact with spirits. She also photographed anything strange or at the center of a lot of activity.

Miles shifted his weight to his other leg and started asking questions. Most were pretty typical of their paranormal hunts: who or what is here, what’s your name, can you do/say this or that? He paused for several minutes after each question, verbally marking any sound that he or one of the others made during the recording. When he’s finished, he stops recording and starts the play back, listening closely. There’s nothing of interest on the device, at least nothing they can hear without other equipment, so he puts it back into the pack. They’d check the pictures and video later.

After a little while, they decide to perform a summoning. Miles sets up while Emily and Andrew continue with the cameras. Once the summoning circle was ready, Andrew set the video camera on a stand and Emily put her camera away. They gathered around and became a summoning, but halfway through, there was a rustling beside the packs. They paused and glanced over, but nothing was to be seen. Just as Miles restarted the incantation, there’s another sound, and they all turn back toward the packs. A shape emerges from behind the packs and all three children tense.

“Oh.” It’s just a skunk. The little creature climbs on to the packs and the kids breathe a sigh of relief. Then they tense again, because the creature starts digging through one of the open bags.

“Hey, stop that!” Miles rises and moves toward the packs, catching the skunk’s attention. He hesitates as the creature meets his eye and stares back at him. It turns around, raising its tail, and the kids just sigh.

“Oh boy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex wakes up after Angel does, but not late enough for him to have finished in the bathroom. Normally, Alex would wait, but he really needs to go, so he sighs and gets up, heading out to the guest bathroom in the hallway. He opens the door and freezes, staring into the room as the stench of skunk spray and tomatoes slams into him.

All three kids are crowded into the tub, which has been filled with water and tomato paste. The floor, the sides of the tub, and the kids themselves are covered in the stuff. Alex just stands there, dumbstruck.

“What. The. Hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when you don't listen to your brother about going ghost hunting at night


	16. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily makes a mistake with a spell she's trying out. This one's a lot less angsty/sad than most of these drabbles.

If looks could kill, Angel would probably be dead. Emily glares at him as he laughs, doubled over at the news he’s just received. Apparently, Emily had been playing around with some kind of spell to change one’s voice and ended up completely losing her own. Angel stands up straight, taking a deep breath.

“Ok, ok, I’m done…” he says, out of breath, before breaking out into more laughter when he looks back to Emily. She fumes quietly while waiting for him to regain composure. Roaring laughter does eventually subside into barely repressed chuckles, and he says, “I’m sorry, it’s just really, really funny. God, where has this spell been all my life!” She shoots him another look and he clears his throat before straightening up.

They decide to call Alex since Emily doesn’t know how to undo whatever mistake she made, and Angel isn’t magically inclined. When Alex arrives, Angel greets him at the door to tell him about the problem, only to once again devolve into laughter before he can get the point across. Emily eventually pushes him out of the way and takes Alex to the living room. She picks up a notebook and begins to explain her plight with pencil and paper. Alex is much better at containing his amusement than Angel. He tells her to bring him the book that she got the spell from so he could try and find where she went wrong.

Angel has almost run out of jokes by the time Alex finds the mistake, and he’s glad he can find a cure soon after that. Emily looked to be ready to beat Angel. Alex neglects to tell either sibling exactly what went wrong to cause Emily’s muteness. He wouldn’t put it pass either of them to try and use the spell on each other. They’d probably claim it was an “accident,” too.

When Alex leaves, he takes the book with him, much to Emily’s dismay. To be fair, most of the book contained advanced magic and she really didn’t need to be messing with it. Besides, he might make a new spell out of this experience. With Miles for a brother, it might come in handy one day. Alex chuckled to himself as he left, Emily griping at Angel from behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short short short short. Funny though, so it may get rewritten at some point.


	17. Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I beat up Onacona and now I feel bad.  
> Or, a continuation of the vampire AU texass-shenanigans and I created, in which Colonneh stays out too late and Naduah goes looking for him. However, there are sinister strangers waiting for her to leave the home--and her family-- unprotected.

It had been a few years since the night Colonneh was followed home. There hadn’t been any further incidents with the family running into any of Naduah’s former clan (not that they knew about Colonneh being followed home yet). In fact, as far as anyone could tell, the clan seemed to have shifted its migration route. Reported attacks and sightings from the nearby town and surrounding woods had dropped over the last few years, and Naduah was finally starting to relax. Ahyoka and Huutsuu were allowed to play outside at night during the migration, but only for a little while just after dark. Their mother still wasn’t taking chances. However, Colonneh was still allowed to spend the night visiting his boyfriend on the other side of town so long as he was back by curfew, which he usually was.

What the family didn’t know was that they shaky sense of security was indeed ill-founded. When The leader of the clan had discovered that Naduah and her family were nearby, they had determined to settle the matter. The clan’s route _was_ shifted slightly, just enough that they wouldn’t be noticed by Naduah. After a few years, she had grown more relaxed, just as the leader had hoped. This year they had sent scouts to watch the home, seeing who came and went and when they did so. Colonneh was regularly followed to and from his boyfriend’s house, and it was quickly determined that he had a specific time to be back home. Anytime he was late, Naduah grew very anxious. Useful. This year, however, they were planning on more than just watching.

When Colonneh left the house, a member of the clan was sent to follow him. They were instructed to stay out of sight and to leave him be; all that was necessary was to watch and make sure he didn’t leave too soon. Lately, he had been coming home later than usual, not wanting to end his time with Alexandre, his boyfriend. The vampire sent after him was simply to make sure he was late this time as well, preferably without being found out.

Luckily for this scout, Colonneh wouldn’t need any intervention to be late tonight. He and Alex made the most of their time together, eventually dozing off in Alex’s bed. It’s two o’clock before Alex wakes up. He checks the time and urgently shakes Colonneh awake, pointing out the hour. It’s only a matter of moments before Colonneh has wished Alex a quick goodbye and is rushing out the door. All these years being afraid of some relatives he never met and it’s gonna be his mother who kills him for being late. Great.

Meanwhile, the leader and another vampire stayed at the house, waiting.

As midnight came and went, Colonneh never appeared, and Naduah became more and more worried as the night dragged on. An hour passed, then two, and she could hardly stand still. Finally, she turned to Onacona.

“I’m going to go look for him. He’s never this late, something could be wrong.” Normally Onacona would try to comfort his wife and get her to relax. He remembered sneaking out to see Naduah when they first met. But she was right; Colonneh was never this late. Even if Naduah’s clan was no longer in the area, there was still the possibility that Colonneh had run into another vampire or another creature, or even a hunter or group of humans. Onacona nodded and promised to take care of the girls while she was gone. He bolted the door when she left and lead Ahyoka and Huutsuu away from the windows, unaware of the vampires watching from outside.

A few minutes after Naduah left, there was a knock on the door. Onacona frowned; Naduah hadn’t been gone very long, so it most likely wasn’t her. He shushed the girls and held them close when the knocking continued. Then, a voice could be heard.

“Please,” it called from the other side of the door, “we need help! We were attacked, let us in.” The speaker sounded very desperate, and the knocking was persistent. Onacona hesitated, weighing his options. This could be a trick, but then again, they hadn’t heard or seen anything about Naduah’s clan in a few years. And he couldn’t let someone who was hurt stay outside unprotected.

He stood up, turning to his daughters. “Go my room and stay quiet. Do not come out until I tell you to, understand?” Both girls nodded, and he sent them off to the room before turning toward the door.

From their parents’ bedroom, Ahyoka and Huutsuu heard the door open, and then heard muffled voices speaking. Then there was shouting and thumps as Onacona is attacked. There’s a particularly loud smashing sound and Onacona cries out, and Ahyoka has to cover Huutsuu’s mouth to keep the intruders from hearing her cry. She pulls her sister up and they run to the other side of the bed, crouching down and scooting underneath. Ahyoka tries to slow her breathing down but it feels like she can’t get enough air. She wraps an arm around Huutsuu and mutters soothing words quietly into her hair. The noises outside the door stop, but the voices continue.

“Naduah’s the only one who went to look for the boy, so that leaves you and the two girls; where are they?” The voice that answers sounds like their father, but it’s low and pained and to hard to make out from the bedroom. Then there’s a kick and groan before the voice speaks again. “The house isn’t that big, and they couldn’t have left it. Find them.” Footsteps begin to move through the halls and rooms, searching. Ahyoka hugs Huutsuu tighter. Eventually, the door to the bedroom opens and a pair of boots comes into view. The intruder searches through the room, finding nothing before coming to stop before the bed, apparently stumped. Huutsuu whimpers when the boots move again, causing them to pause and turn toward the bed. Ahyoka grabs Huutsuu and tries to scramble back, but she rises too quickly and knocks her head against the bedframe. A hand seizes her arm and drags her out. She’s dropped against the wall as Huutsuu, who was still clinging to her, is pulled away. Both girls are carried into the living room where Onacona lay.

Unaware of what is happening back at her home, Naduah runs into Colonneh halfway to Alex’s house. She rushes over to him and worriedly looks him over, checking for any injuries or anything out of place. She speaks rapid fire.

“Are you alright, are you hurt? What happened?”

I’m fine, Mama. I…” Colonneh looks down sheepishly. He rubs the back of his head before continuing, “I fell asleep. I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching the time.”

Naduah is quiet for a moment before pulling him into an embrace. “I’m just glad you’re safe. I was so worried.”

“Does that mean I’m not in trouble?”

“Oh, you’re definitely in trouble.” Colonneh shrugged. What did he expect? The two began towards home.

Once they were close to the house, Naduah paused. She put her arm out and stopped Colonneh in his tracks. With narrowed eyes, she listened for a moment. Then her eyes widened shock.

“Stay behind me,” she instructed, moving forward slowly. She reached the front door, the only entrance to the house, and listened. Colonneh stood behind her, concerned. He listened closely as well, leaning as close as he could get. They could hear groans emitting from inside, mixed with little whimpers from Ahyoka and Huutsuu. Colonneh tensed and lunged for the door, being stopped by his mother. She took out a knife and wrapped a hand around the door handle. Taking a deep breath, she thrust the door open.

Ahyoka was sobbing in a corner of the room, reaching up to Huutsuu, who was whimpering from where one of the intruders had snatched her from the ground. She had cried out every time the other intruder hurt her father, and apparently the first intruder had grown annoyed. He paused when the door flung open, turning his attention to the people in the doorway.

On the other side of the room, the second intruder, the clan leader, dropped Onacona against the wall. Onacona fell with a groan and clutched his side, trying and failing to sit up. The leader turned to the door and grinned.

“Naduah. It has been too long.”

“Not long enough,” Naduah muttered, staying between Colonneh and the other vampires, gripping her dagger tighter. She took a step into the house, keeping her back to the wall and pulling Colonneh along behind her. She would have told him to stay outside, but she had no way to tell if there were other members of the clan waiting. Behind her, Colonneh moved his hand to his own dagger he carried (can’t be too careful when both vampires and humans think you’re an abomination).

Before either of them can say anything else, the vampire who’d grabbed Huutsuu tossed her back down to Ahyoka and lunged at Naduah. The two grappled in the center of the room.

Colonneh stood in shock at the scene in front of him, trying to make sense of it. He didn’t register the leader closing the distance between them until it was too late.

“Oh my god!” He stepped quickly back as the leader flew at him. He tried to fight back and probably could have won, or at least beaten the leader back—on reason dhampirs were considered so dangerous was that whatever powers they inherit are incredibly raw and potent, especially when poorly controlled. But Colonneh didn’t know that and in any case, he wasn’t exactly in a situation where he could properly use his power. He quickly ended up pressed against the wall, a hand pinning him by the neck. His feet were barely brushing the ground as he scrabbled for purchase.

Colonneh looked up to the leader as he struggled, who looked back with disdain. “What did we do?” he asked. “We haven’t hurt anyone! We haven’t done anything to you! All we want is to be left alo-,” he’s cut off when the leader’s hand tightens slightly around his throat, just enough to get the point across. The look on their face sharpens to sheer disgust.

“Your kind is a blight on both humankind and vampires,” they spat. “Left unbound, unsupervised, you let your power consume you. Clans are exposed to human populations and attacked because someone allowed a dhampir to hide among the ranks without controlling them, or a clan is destroyed from the inside by a dhampir who’s grown into its power. Worse, you make us weak. Not physically, of course, but in other ways.” They tightened their hold on him again, more out of anger than anything else, it seemed. “Your mother was one of the strongest, most powerful of our clan. She could have been great, feared and respected by both her own kind and humans, but she fell for one of the townspeople from the town we stayed near. And then she had you, and those girls, and now she’s grown soft. Weak.” They sneered down at him. “You’re a plague on our kind. That’s why you need to be dealt with firmly.”

“That’s not true!” Colonneh protested. “Even if it was, we haven’t done any of those things! We’re not even a part of a clan; we can’t be a danger to one. Huutsuu hasn’t even shown any powers!” The leader didn’t soften.

“Dhampirs grow into their powers,” the leader stated matter-of-factly. They grinned, but there was no warmth in it. “That’s why we deal with them early.” Again, the grip on Colonneh’s neck tightened, but this time it didn’t stop. He gasped and reached for his dagger, which had been stabbed into the wall, but it was just out of reach.

Behind them, the commotion of the fight shifts and there’s a thud. The leader turns away from Colonneh, looking to where Naduah and the other vampire had been. The other vampire lay unmoving on the ground and Naduah pushed herself back to her feet, facing the leader.

“You put him down.”

The leader opens their mouth to speak, but instead of words comes a shriek. When they had turned to see what had happened, they had shifted Colonneh’s position just enough for him to reach his dagger, which he promptly planted deep into the leader’s forearm. They released him, letting him fall to the ground gasping, while they pulled their injured arm to their chest. This wasn’t exactly going to plan anymore. The leader didn’t exactly expect the other vampire to beat Naduah, but they had expected him to put up more of a fight, or at least weaken her. Now, injured and facing a two-against-one fight, they knew the odds were against them. They hesitated, then grasped Colonneh by the arm and thrust him at Naduah when she surged forward. By the time Naduah had steadied Colonneh and turned back to the leader, they had fled from the home. Naduah wanted to go after them but knew there was no point.

Colonneh goes to his sisters after his mother looks him over, holding them close as they cry before checking them for injuries. Ahyoka is bleeding from her forehead where the other vampire had hit her to make her be quiet. Both girls are bruised, especially Huutsuu along the side that she landed on when the other vampire dropped her to attack their mother. Nothing is broken, though, the girls are just badly frightened. Colonneh takes a bit of cloth from his shirt and presses it to Ahyoka’s head. He looks behind him where his mother kneels next to his father across the room. Onacona is in much worse shape than Ahyoka and Huutsuu. He loosely clutches at a gash in his side as Naduah sits him up against the wall. Onacona is too pale and can barely keep his eyes open, though Naduah keeps telling him to stay awake. Colonneh can tell from the look on his mother’s face that the wound is worse than what he can see.

Naduah doesn’t look back when she speaks, just continues to tend to her husband. “Colonneh, take your sisters to their room.” Colonneh picks up Huutsuu and helps Ahyoka to her feet, taking them to their room and helping them to the bed. Huutsuu refuses to let go of him when he tries to set her down, so he ends up sitting on the bed with both girls curled against him.

Ahyoka looks up at him with worry and says, “Is Papa gonna be ok?”

“I, um… I dunno.” He really doesn’t. He didn’t get a good look at any of his father’s injuries, but he did see that there were several that were bleeding badly. Presumably, his chances were slim. Colonneh didn’t think his mother would have sent them to the bedrooms if she believed Onacona would survive. He tried to shake that thought away, but others came in its place.

The house had to have been attacked after his mother left. Yes, his father was human, but if both his parents had been there to defend the house together, the intruders wouldn’t have been able to do what they did. Even if Colonneh had been there, it could have made a difference.

If he had been there… If he hadn’t been late, if he hadn’t lost track of time and if his mother hadn’t left to go find him. If Colonneh had been back by curfew, his mother wouldn’t have had to leave, and the intruders wouldn’t have had the opportunity they were looking for. He bit his lip and pulled his sisters closer. He should have watched the time. Then this might not have happened. His sisters wouldn’t be clinging to him, still scared out of their minds, and his father wouldn’t… he should have been on time.

Colonneh almost jumps when the door opens and snaps him out of his thoughts. Naduah walks in and sits next to the children on the bed, looking exhausted. She reaches out to stroke Ahyoka’s hair, and Colonneh notices her wrist is bleeding. He doesn’t remember her being injured like that in the fight, but he may have just missed it.

She looks to him and asks, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“And them?” She gestures to the girls on either side of him, curled up and sleeping.

“They’re ok, just scared.” Colonneh looks up at his mother and continues, “What about you? And Papa?”

Naduah hesitates. “I… I’m fine,” she says, before absentmindedly rubbing her wrist. “And I guess we’ll have to wait and see about your papa.”

Colonneh is quiet for a moment before speaking. “I’m sorry.”

“What? Why?”

He worries at his lip again and continues, “I was late. I fell asleep and didn’t watch the time, and you had to come find me. If you hadn’t had to leave, you would have been here to help, but you had to come look for me.” His voice breaks and he looks down. “I’m sorry.”

He feels his mother’s arms around him as she pulls him close. She shushes him and whispers into his hair that it’s not his fault. Colonneh clings to her as tears spring up. He’s to tired to sob, the adrenaline from the fight having worn off long ago, so he just leans into his mother and cries quietly as she comforts him. When he’s calmed down, she plants a kiss on the top of his head and tells him to sleep.

She waits until he has lain down and closed his eyes before getting up and going to her own room, where Onacona lies on the bed, eyes closed and breaths shallow. Naduah pulls a chair up beside the bad and sits down, watching her husband. She’s done everything she can for his wounds, but he’s only human, and he had already lost so much blood before she got back. A human likely wouldn’t survive the wounds he received… but a vampire might. She hoped what she did would work. It was a long-shot that depended on whether or not she had been too late, but it was hope.

The night was long, and every sound made Naduah jump. She only left Onacona’s side to check on her children, mostly just to assure herself that they were still there. When morning came, she was still sitting in her chair and holding her husband’s hand, not having slept a bit. Words cannot describe the relief that washes over her when she squeezes his hand and he reacts. She practically jumps onto the bed, careful to mind his injuries. Naduah will wake her children up soon, but for now she’s satisfied just to lay next to Onacona, knowing he’s still here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was six pages and 3000+ words of me feeling like I was kicking a dog. Onacona just wants to live a simple life with his family, he doesn't deserve this.  
> Anyway, Colonneh belongs to @texass-shenanigans from tumblr.  
> Also, yes, I will be finishing this writing challenge, I just am working around school and stuff like that, so bear with me. I do promise to finish this work


	18. Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The troublesome trio that is Emily, Andrew, and Miles runs into a bit of a predicament at an old, abandoned house.

Miles shakes the dizziness away, trying to clear his head. He sits up and looks around, trying to remember where he was. _What’s that sound_ , he thought as a tapping was heard throughout the building. He ignores it for the moment and takes in his surroundings, seeing old wooden walls and dusty light filtering in through windows. Beside him, Andrew groans and shifts on the floor.

Oh, right! He and his brother had gone to that abandoned house they’d found to mess around. Something must have gone wrong. He looked himself over, then went to check on Andrew. Satisfied that neither himself nor his brother had any visible injuries, he reached out and patted Andrew’s face until he got a response.

“C’mon, man, wakey wakey. We gotta go before Alex gets pissy.” The other boy groans and swats half-heartedly at Miles’ hand, cracking his eyes open. Miles grabs his forearm and helps him to his feet before going around the room and collecting their things.

 _Weird_ , thought Miles, _Why’s there so much extra… shit_. He spun around and scanned the room. Along with his and Andrew’s supplies, he’d found an extra bag and supplies with Emily’s jacket laying next to it. When he woke up, he hadn’t seen or heard any sign of her, just as he didn’t now.

“Emily? Em, where’d you go?” Miles wasn’t worried yet. If Em woke up before he and Andrew, she may have wandered to a different part of the house if she couldn’t wake them up. “Em, answer me! We gotta go.” He turned to Andrew, about to tell him to help him look, when he noticed his brother’s look of shock. He frowned and followed his gaze to the wall in front of them. On it hung a large mirror where the trio had probably performed some kind of ritual or experiment. Actually, thinking back, that was the last thing Miles could remember doing. However, looking at it now, last night was the last thing on his mind.

Emitting from the mirror was the dull tapping sound he heard when he woke up. The source, however, was what had Andrew dumbstruck. Emily stood on the other side of the mirror frantically waving at them and beaconing them closer. Her mouth kept moving, but no sound came from her except when she tapped the glass. She looked terrified Andrew and Miles looked at each other and then back at Emily.

Miles stepped forward looked at the mirror hesitantly. He said to Emily, “We… We’re gonna get you out, Emi, don’t worry,” before tentatively placing a hand on the glass. Andrew came closer too, speaking to Emily calmly for a bit before getting Miles’ attention.

“I don’t think she can hear us. All she can hear is when we hit the glass, I think. Just like how that’s all we can hear.” Andrew looked worried. Miles took a deep breath and nodded.

“Ok, let me think…” he frowned and pressed his head to the glass. What could they do? Suddenly, he perked up. “I have an idea!” he tapped to get Emily’s attention, then took a deep breath before exhaling onto the mirror. Once a large patch had fogged over, he began tracing his finger over it. When he was finished, the words CAN U C THIS were scrawled onto the glass.

Emily frowned at the foggy patch of glass before her eyes widened, then she huffed a breath onto her side of the mirror as well. ITS BACKWARDS was traced onto the glass, but the words and letters were reversed. Miles sighed in relief; at least they had a way to communicate. He breathed onto the glass again, writing WE WILL GET U OUT, then he turned to Andrew.

“Someone has to go get Alex. The other needs to stay here and see if he can figure out what happened.”

Andrew nodded. “You should go tell Alex.”

“What? Why me!?”

“Because it was your idea to come here, your idea to bring Emily, and your idea to do a ritual with the mirror; if anyone is gonna get their ass beat by Alex, it should be you.”

Miles opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. To be fair, all of that was true. “Fine. I’ll be back soon. Be careful and call me if anything happens or if you find anything.”

Andrew nodded again and said, “I will, but you better get going.” With that, Miles waved goodbye and headed out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This seemed interesting. It's really short, but I want to get the rest of these prompts written soon. If you want to know anything about how they went about this particular situation, or about any other drabbles or AUs, feel free to hit me up here or at my ask blog @aph-oklahoma-46


	19. Hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily wasn't the only one who suffered during the Dust Bowl. Andrew grows weaker and more malnourished by the day, despite Alex's efforts, and seeing Miles wandering around without his brother is almost as painful as seeing Andrew weak in bed.  
> Tw: starvation and sad boys

It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t normal, it wasn’t ok, and it wasn’t right.

Hell, it was down right unsettling, if one was being honest, seeing Miles without Andrew. The poor kid would wander around the house, just looking lost or like a part of him had fallen out. That’s certainly what it felt like. Just a few decades before, he and Andrew had lost their friend and partner-in-crime when Ahyoka died, and now Andrew was lying in bed and barely able to sit up and hardly able to keep solid food down.

When the stock market crashed, the whole country had been thrown into a depression. Then the rain stopped, and the Dust Bowl rolled in with its drought and Black Blizzards. Older states seemed to be handling the conditions better than the younger ones, but everyone was suffering. Before Andrew got sick, Alex would take them to visit Emily and Angel, both of whom were in poor shape, but especially Emily. She always looked dirty and exhausted, and soon, she couldn’t do anything physically demanding because she would suffer body-wracking coughs. It wasn’t long before the only one who came down when they visited was Angel. Miles and Andrew could go up to Emily’s room and talk to her, but they were always told to let her rest. Lately, it was beginning to look like she might not get better, despite Angel trying his best to help.

But even when Emily got sick, Miles still had Andrew. Miles couldn’t remember a time when it wasn’t “Miles and Andrew, Andrew and Miles.” Since their births, the two had hardly spent time away from each other, or, when they did, they were sure to cause absolute hell until they were reunited. But then Andrew got sick, not long after Emily.

Well, it wasn’t really sickness. He was starving. Alex first noticed when Andrew started eating bigger portions than usual. He got hungry faster. When food and money got tight, Alex would often put more towards his brothers’ meals than his own, which both boys protested when they found out; they threw a complete fit when they realized he had skipped a meal entirely so that they would have enough. But the meals grew smaller and Andrew started getting thinner, even when he did eat enough. Eventually, it occurred to Alex that Andrew was experiencing what so many of his people were; he was starving and malnourished. And if the cause was from his people suffering, then there wasn’t going to be anything Alex could really do, just like Angel’s situation with Emily. So many of Andrew’s people had left for the West Coast, and so many of those who stayed couldn’t afford to feed themselves or their families, and that was showing through in his own condition.

Eventually, Andrew grew too weak to run around and cause trouble with Miles. Up until that point, the brothers had continued their pastime of giving Alex gray hairs and causing havoc, which Alex was actually grateful for, though he’d never admit it. It was something that remained the same when everything else had come crashing down. But now Andrew was confined to his bed, unable to get up. He could only eat soft foods like bread with milk or soup without being in pain or vomiting it back up. Miles watched as his brother grew weaker and weaker and prayed that this Depression would end soon so he could have his brother back.

In the meantime, Alex insisted Miles go out and do something. Anything, really, just so that he didn’t sit in Andrew’s room all the time looking tragic. Alex understood that Miles was hurting for his brother—so was Alex! But it wasn’t healthy for the boy to sit and watch Andrew waste away. So, Alex would send him outside or to the living room to play, but all Miles did was sit somewhere and stare into space looking like half of a broken whole. Alex hated seeing him like this. He hated seeing Andrew like that.

Alex was also scared. Only a few months before, Emily had succumbed to her pneumonia while she and Angel slept, and Alex was terrified Andrew starving to death and of Miles watching. Emily had of course, resurrected by now, but Alex knew that that was a painful experience and it wouldn’t be much better for Andrew. So, he did all he could, feeding Andrew what little he could handle and staying by his bedside. At some point, he stopped sending Miles out. To be fair, part of that was because Miles stopped listening.

At least when he was in the room, he looked a little less broken. Andrew liked it better too. Miles would sit by the bed and hold Andrew’s hand, promising everything would eventually get better.

This wasn’t right, either, but at least it looked a little less wrong than seeing them apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andrew doesn't deserve this, but I wrote it anyway.


	20. Trapdoor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After it was decided that Colonneh and Alex getting married was the best way to forge an alliance between Francis' and his parents' kingdoms, Colonneh has been visiting his fiance's home more often. On one of these visits, Miles and Andrew rope him into some exploring of an older portion of the castle, where a little accident ensues.

Colonneh really shouldn’t have been surprised. Huutsuu was still finding new ways to use the castle at home against him, why shouldn’t her new friends do the same when he visited. As he sat at the bottom of the drop, he glared up at the boys peeking down at him. They waved nervously, before retreating from the edge of the trapdoor and whispering adamantly.

The reason he was at Alex’s home was so that his parents and Francis could facilitate a courtship of sorts. Of course, they’d already found out about his and Alex’s… liasons together in the past, but the people of neither kingdom knew that, so the monarchs had resolved to put forth a public romance that would ease the idea of the kingdoms intermarrying. So, Alex had been visiting Colonneh’s kingdom more often and Colonneh had been visiting his.

Of course, their siblings loved the idea of a new ~~target~~ friend to play with. For Alex, it wasn’t as bad as expected; he was after, rather experienced with troublesome siblings, and Huutsuu was much easier to deal with than both Miles and Andrew. Still, Colonneh got along fairly well with the two younger boys, playing pretend and hide-and-seek and other such games until he and Alex were supposed to make some appearance or attend some lesson. Soon, though, Colonneh realized that Andrew and Miles were just as capable of inconvenient mischief as Huutsuu was.

Thus, here he was, stuck in a pit after having fallen through a trapdoor in an older, relatively unused hall of the castle.

Miles looked down at him again and shouted apologetically, “Sorry! We thought it was supposed to be a door in the wall.” Andrew nodded.

“Well, that’s great, but it wasn’t and now I’m stuck.”

“Look on the bright side; you didn’t die!”

Colonneh rolled his eyes. “That’s great. Boys, go get a guard or someone to help me out.” He saw Andrew nod and rise before Miles caught his sleeve, looking down at Colonneh with an expression he’d seen dozens of times with Huutsuu when she was planning to screw him over.

“What do we get out of it?”

Colonneh looked up at him incredulously. “I won’t smack you for dropping me down a damn hole, how about that?”

Miles and Andrew looked at each other then shook their heads. Colonneh groaned. They were really going to make him negotiate his way out. Surely, they wouldn’t actually leave him down here if he refused to bribe them. He thought for a moment and decided that, yes, that is something they might do, so he’d better cooperate. It’ll be faster to do so, in any case.

“Ok, fine. What do you want?”

“Extra dessert for a week, and…” Andrew leaned into his brother and whispered in his ear before Miles continued. “And we want you to teach us some horse-riding tricks.” Andrew nodded again in agreement.

Colonneh sighed and leaned against the wall of the pit before answering, “Sure, now go get some guards.” The faces of the two boys pulled back from the edge and Colonneh could hear their footsteps receding down the hall. He slid down and sat against the wall, waiting for them to bring help and vowing to never follow them on one of their “expeditions” again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, bitches!  
> This is the Royalty AU again  
> Younger siblings are bloodthirsty


	21. Missing/Locked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was talking to @texass-shenanigans about this prompt and another Au popped up. This is another Human Au, except this one is a bit darker. This chapter would still be rated for general audiences, I think, but I just want to put it out there that there is kidnapping.  
> Summary: Emily and her family live in a neighborhood that has been plagued by child disappearances for years, and after and unfortunate event at the park, Emily is the latest victim. Warning, Emily (6 years old in this Au) gets kidnapped, BUT there's nothing graphic, violent, or gorey, so don't worry about that.

Angel was home for a few days do the break. While Elena and Daniel were glad to see him when he returned from college, his sisters were absolutely ecstatic to hear their brother had come home. The minute he walked through the door, both girls were clinging to his legs and squealing. At dinner that evening, he said he’d take Ahyoka and Emily out to do whatever they wanted one day during the break, promising to spend the whole day together, just the three of them. His parents warned him to always keep a close eye on his sisters if they did go out alone, especially on Emily. Angel understood why they would be nervous about the siblings going out alone; ever since he was a little boy, children in their community had been going missing, often without a trace. Most were Emily’s age, all were at least partly Native American (the community itself was almost completely Native), and none had been heard from since their disappearances. Angel assured his parents he would look after Emily and Ahyoka, eventually calming their nerves and making plans with the two girls about what they would do on their day out.

He did take the girls out for some fun. They went to see a movie, to get ice cream, and to the park near their home. Emily was especially excited for the park. When Angel asked her why, she held up her little stuffed fox and told him that it was her friend’s favorite place. Angel chuckled and ruffled her hair. Emily always had that fox with her, no matter where she went.

The siblings arrived at the park, and Angel sat down their things while the two girls went to play. Once everything had been set down, Ahyoka called him over to join her and Emily on the playground. Angel mostly just helped Emily, who was only six years old and not quite big enough to keep up with Ahyoka, who was twelve. Angel shook his head; they were growing up too fast. Before he could ruminate too long on the thought of his sisters growing up, a ringing from over at their belongings distracted him. He sat Emily on the ground and went over to find his phone while the girls kept playing. Alex had called, wanting to know if they were still on for a date the day after.

As Angel talked, he paced, facing away from the playground. He could still hear Ahyoka thudding on the wood of the play castle and the crunch of Emily’s feet on the gravel.

Emily stood for a moment after Angel put her down, clutching her fox and watched him answer the phone. She turned to Ahyoka, who had begun climbing on the little rock wall on one side of the play structure. After attempting for a few moments to scale the walls herself, then trying and failing to get Ahyoka’s attention to help her, Emily trotted over to the edge of the playground to find something else to do. As she surveyed the ground, she heard a noise from the tree line a few feet away from the border of the playground. Curious, she glanced over at Angel and Ahyoka to see if they were watching. Angel had his back turned away from the playground and Ahyoka was focused on the spinning tic-tac-toe game on the other side of the play structure. She turned back to the trees and made her way over, hesitating as she tried to remember where the noise first came from. A bush shivered, and it looked as if there were someone crouching within the foliage. Emily tiptoed over to the movement and peered into the leaves.

Now that she was this close, Emily could see a man, maybe her father’s age, bending over behind the bushes and trees. He was picking something off the ground. When he looked up at her, she retreated a little from the bush, hugging her fox to her chest. The man smiled at her and waved something small and fuzzy in the air.

“Hello there, little one. Do you want to help me find my friends?” He held up the thing in his hand again. It was a little plush rabbit. He nodded to Emily and added, “I see you have one of your own.”

Emily looked at her fox and then back at the man, nodding. “Their name’s Tsutla, ‘cause they’re a fox.”

The man raised an eyebrow and frowned but quickly changed his face to a smile, saying, “Nice to meet you, …Zoola. And what would your name be?”

“Emily!” she proclaimed happily, not paying any mind to the mispronunciation.

The man smiled again and held out his hand, which Emily shook. “Nice to meet you Emily. My name is Andrew.”

Emily gasped and said, “Oh, I have a friend named Andrew! He’s my age, though.”

“That’s very neat, isn’t it? Well, would your friend there, … Zoola… like to meet another friend? I have some more of these little fellows in my car if you want to pick one out.”

Eyes lighting up, Emily nodded vigorously and smiled. This seemed to make the man very pleased. He motioned for Emily to follow him, then he turned around and walked toward a dark colored vehicle waiting on the shoulder of the road on the other side of the tree line. Emily hopped along behind him, mumbling happily to Tsutla about the new friends they were going to make.

The man stopped by the side of the vehicle facing away from the road and opened a door before helping Emily up and inside. She began searching the seat for the stuffed animals she was promised, frowning when she didn’t find any. She straightened up, hands in little fists on her hips as she thought. The man, Andrew, would probably know where the animals were, she decided, and she turned around to find him. He wasn’t there.

She looked around and saw him at the trunk of the vehicle, rummaging through a large box. Maybe the toys were in there! She climbed over the seat he had helped her into and dropped down on the other side, startling him. Andrew looked up at her, and for a moment, he seemed alarmed, as if he’d been caught doing something wrong. Emily would have laughed a little, but he quickly recovered and spoke, shifting her train of thought.

“Oh, are you done looking already?”

Emily nodded. “There’s no friends up there,” she pouted, more than a little disappointed. Then she perked up. “Are they in the box?”

Andrew blinked and looked from Emily to the box, then back to Emily before smiling. “Maybe! Here, comes help me look.” He set something to the side and shifted the box with a grunt. Emily crawled over and peeked over the edge into the box. She frowned again.

“There’s no- mmpf!” She was pulled back, away from the edge, into the man’s chest. One of his arms was wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her stomach and forcing her to stay awkwardly seated on top of her legs, while the other was clamped over her mouth, pressing something soft to her face. Emily writhed and whimpered into the cloth, trying to pull a leg back to kick with. Over the sounds of her muffled protests, she could hear the man shushing her, telling her to hold still.

Soon, her struggles weakened, eventually stopping altogether. Once she was still and quiet, Andrew removed the cloth and laid her on the bed of the trunk. He replaced most of the items he’d set aside earlier—a bottle and the cloth—and took the roll of duct tape he’d retrieved, tearing a bit off and wrapping it around Emily’s wrists. He did the same with her ankles, then he pressed a strip to her mouth before picking her up and placing her in the box. Once he was satisfied that she wouldn’t be able to get out or cause trouble, Andrew closed the lid and locked the box, closed the trunk, and started the vehicle, driving away from the park.

Minutes later, Angel would end his conversation with Alex and check the time, before calling out to his sisters that it was time to leave. Hours later, he would still be searching the park and the surrounding area, along with his parents and neighbors, searching for Emily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, like I said, nothing just absolutely horrible outside of a kidnapping, so Idk but take that however. I do try to keep this drabble series as a whole at a general rating, but this chapter might be T or something.  
> Angel belongs to @texass-shenanigans as always, and thanks to them for helping me plot out this Au. I do have the bare bones of the rest of the plot down in my word docs, so there is more if you want to ask about it. My ask account for Emily is @aph-oklahoma-46 on Tungle dot hellsite.  
> Emily is 6, Angel is 22ish, and Ahyoka is 12-13ish here.  
> Tsutla is the Cherokee word for fox. Emily is unoriginal with names.


	22. Senses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily, Andrew, and Miles attempt a spell, but something goes very, very wrong.

Miles clamped one hand each on Emily and Andrew’s shoulders before leaping back and pulling them with him, away from the fire they had built. The flames grew higher and lashed out, smoke billowing up through the hole in the ceiling.

“So, that didn’t exactly go as planned.” The three looked up at the swirling column of smoke as it writhed around the ceiling and through the hole. They had been trying to use a spell that would give them a magic light to carry when they went on hunts in dark places or at night. Miles must have said the incantation wrong or they must have used an ingredient wrong, though, because instead of an enchanted light or floating illumination, they got a large, possibly sentient blaze that threatened to burn down their hideout. Fortunately, they were far enough away from any other structures that there wasn’t the threat of damaging someone else’s property (probably), and for now, the fire failed to get any higher than Emily’s shoulder. Unfortunately, there were no utilities running to this abandoned house they had made into their headquarters, which meant they had no running water to use against the blaze if it got out of hand. Miles’ grip on Andrew and Emily tightened and he backed away from the flames and toward the door.

“Ok, new plan; we stay very far away from the fire and wait for it to die down a bit, maybe go get dome water from the stream down the way, and if all else fails, we call Alex to save our asses. Good deal?” He looked to Andrew and got a nod, then looked to Emily, who started to nod but then jolted.

“Wait, we forgot our stuff!” Emily pulled away and ran to the other side of the room, careful not to stray too close to the blaze, though it seemed rather subdued for the moment. Miles tried to catch her arm before she got away but missed. She was almost to the packs before her could get her attention.

“Be careful Em!” She looked up and nodded, hoisting her and Andrew’s packs onto her back before bending to grab Miles’. Loaded down with all of that weight, she began to regret grabbing it all at once, but there was no point stopping now. She began to make her way back to the boys.

She made it about halfway when the fire roared higher, flames flicking out to the edges of the room. Emily yelped and jumped back when one slapped the wall before her, about a foot and a half up from the floor. The weight of the packs on her bag threw off her balance, and she tumbled back onto her rear. The fire continued to lash out, randomly striking the walls and floor and leaving blackened scorch marks where it hit.

Miles tensed when Emily fell, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when she waved at Andrew and him, showing she was ok. Still, the fire was becoming erratic and she couldn’t move quickly or with enough agility to avoid it with those bags. Miles turned Andrew around and pointed for him to go to the adjacent room, where there was a door he could escape out of if worst came to worst. Then he turned back to Emily, who was crouching and clutching the bags next to the wall.

“Em! Stay over there, ok, I’m gonna come get you,” he shouted. He pressed against the wall and moved forward, watching the fire and Emily while forcing himself to go slowly. Desperately, he wanted to run to her and pull her out of the room, but with the way the fire moved (it almost seemed to be tracking him), he couldn’t take that chance. When he was a few feet away from Emily he reached out a hand and leaned forward.

“Ok, let’s g-,” he started, before being cut off by a tongue of flame coming down right between hi hand and Emily. Both pulled back, and Emily cried out. Andrew stepped back into the room, looking concerned at them.

Before Miles could tell him to leave or grab Emily and move, several long whips of fire stretched out from the main blaze, shooting out and pinning the children in their respective positions. The flames grew around them, spreading up and down like dividers between them, blocking their view of each other.

Miles dropped down as the wall of flame closed over his head. He strained to hear Emily or Andrew, desperate for any sign that they were alright, but all he could hear was the roar of the fire. He crouched lower and covered his ears, cursing at himself for thinking this was good idea. Now he was stuck here, and he couldn’t help his brother or friend. He couldn’t even hear them.

Then the roaring stopped, and everything was quiet.

Emily had been about to reach for Miles’ hand again when the walls of flame formed between them. She had scrambled back, away from them, then she had pressed as close to the brick wall behind her as she could. The cocoon of fire encased her, filling with smoke. If she stood, all she could see around her was thick, cloudy, black smoke. If she crouched or sat, all she could see was bright orange and yellow and red as the fire consumed her vision. She had always been afraid of the dark, but this onslaught of light and heat was equally horrible. She buried her head in her knees, tears burning her eyes as she covered her head and prayed for the fire to die down.

After a few moments, the world around her cooled, and she looked up when a hand touched her shoulder. The light was gone. All of it.

Andrew had been the furthest away from the flames, but that didn’t stop them from forcing him into a corner of the room to avoid being burned. He backed into the corner opposite Emily and Miles, searching frantically for a way to get out, to get to them. His lungs burned as they heaved in breaths of hot air, and his skin felt like it was searing. He tried to get as far away from the flames as possible, squatting on the ground and ducking his head. The fabric of his jeans and shirt were too hot to touch, and it made him whimper when they pressed against him It was too hot, he needed to find Miles! They needed to get Emily and they needed to get out of this building and somewhere cool, somewhere not so hot.

Soon, the burning was gone. It wasn’t replaced with the feeling of cool air, though. It wasn’t replaced with anything.

The flames had receded, the fire reducing itself to a smoldering mess of embers. The house was clean of scorch marks, and there was not trace of smoke or flame. It was as if nothing had happened. Miles looked up and laid eyes on Emily, then Andrew across the room. He knelt by Emily and touched her shoulder as she remained huddled in a ball. He turned to Andrew and shouted, asking if he was hurt. No sound came out. He shouted again, and Andrew looked at him, frightened, but Miles could still not hear his own voice. He felt Emily shift next to him, but he didn’t hear it. He paled, looking to her, realization dawning.

Emily looked around, confused at first, then frantic. She grabbed Miles hand to ground herself, and Miles could see her mouth moving, her chest heaving as she panicked. He leaned over and pulled her too him, still unable to hear her, but understanding her based on her actions. She looked around, eyes wide but blank. When he whispered her name, tried to calm her down, she turned toward the sound, but she didn’t really look at him. Just towards him.

She couldn’t see. He couldn’t hear.

He needed to check on Andrew.

Miles hoisted Emily up, and she clung to the sudden movement as he walked over to where Andrew remained, visibly shaken. Andrew was staring at the ground, wide-eyed and digging his nails into the floorboards. Miles sat Emily down carefully next to Andrew before placing a hand on his shoulder. Andrew didn’t react. Miles frowned and said his name, patting his arm. Andrew jumped, jerking his head up and backing against the wall on instinct. He relaxed a little when he saw his brother, but he looked to the hand on his arm and paled. He reached out and touched Miles’ hand, pressing oddly, like he misjudged the distance. Andrew kept patting and rubbing Miles’ arm and growing frantic. He looked to his brother and said something, but Miles couldn’t hear. He was shaking his head, it looked like he lost something too.

Miles took his brother’s wrists and made what he hoped were calming noises. He tapped his own ear and shook his head, hoping the words coming out of his mouth made some sense. He pointed at Emily’s eyes, shook his head again. Then he looked to Andrew, expectant. Andrew paused, slightly calmer with his friends. Then he looked up at Miles and tapped his own hand. Miles frowned, not sure what he meant.

Andrew thought, the he put his arm in front of him and pinched the skin hard. Nothing. Well, he could feel the skin be moved, but he couldn’t feel the pain that should be there. He couldn’t feel the skin between his fingers. He looked at Miles and shook his head. Miles’ eyes widened.

God, they were gonna be in so much trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was really fun to write. If it's not clear, Andrew lost his sense of touch. Someone could smack him and he'd feel something move his face, but he wouldn't feel the fingers or palm of the hand, or the pain. It's like he's incredibly numb. Emily is temporarily blind, while Miles is temporarily deaf.


	23. Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deity Au. Before Emily became the goddess of siblings, her sister, Ahyoka held that title. Then something terrible happened in the human world and Ahyoka suffers for it.

The gods knew they owed their continued existence to their followers. Their worshippers were the ones who kept them alive, strong, and for all intents and purposes, immortal. What was the point of a god if there was no one who needed them, no one to carry out their wishes on earth, to prayer, to give offerings, to love them? The most powerful gods were those most worshipped, those with the largest cults and sects. Those gods with small followings were often small themselves, staying weak and vulnerable.

If a god with a small following survived childhood, they could grow like any other, and part of their condition after that point is dependent on a number of factors, including the devotion of their few followers, what they are the deity of, and how they and their realm of influence are treated widely. But they had to survive childhood. An example of a god whom survived and became great was Naduah, goddess of the bond between warriors. There are few priests for such a realm of influence, though some priests serving gods of war would include Naduah in their ceremonies. Despite the fact that her official sect was small, Naduah was worshipped by those who fought together. The bond between warriors is a sacred thing, a thing built on trust and respect, and it was held sacred by those who had it. Warriors across the land would pray to her to protect their friends and themselves before battles.

Her case was not the norm for gods with small followings however, and a young deity whose followers were lost was in danger of dying themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naduah held her daughter and smiled as the infant cooed and reached for her braid. Her son stood on his toes to see his baby sister.

“Do you want to hold her, Angel?” she asked, looking up. Angel thought for a moment, then nodded. His father helped him up onto the bed with them, where the boy settled between his parents. Naduah shifted over and carefully placed the baby, Ahyoka, in her brother’s arms.

“Gently, now. Watch her head.” The baby, blinked up at him, sucking on her fist. Angel blinked back.

“Hi, Ahyoka. I’m Angel, and I’m your brother,” he said quietly. He tried to speak softly around the baby because his mother had told him her ears are still new, so loud noises make them hurt.

Ahyoka looked up at him, removing her fist. “Bah!” She reached for his face and smiled. Angel smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ahyoka grew, her attachment to her brother, and later, her sister, became clear. Her parents also noticed her preoccupation with siblings in the human world. She grew very protective of such bonds, and she would adamantly espouse the importance of a good relationship between siblings whenever asked. It made her so happy to see siblings getting along, loving each other, and she lamented the broken relationships between siblings that she saw. She was discovering her realm of influence. It was a small one, but her parents were happy nonetheless. Discovering what one was the deity of was like coming of age for a god.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Romulus watched as his brother was crowned Heir Apparent by their parents. He seethed as he watched the man bow, donning his crown and parading about like a peacock. _Fool_ , Romulus thought to himself. _She’s given this damned fool all the power in the kingdom, and he’s going to run all she and Father spent years building right into the ground!_ He glowered as his brother took his place next to his mother’s throne. Someone would have to do something.

Someone will do something.

 _But not right now_ , he thought, attempting to look more chipper. Let his brother have his moment. _If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll hand the crown over the minute our mother has passed_. Not that his brother ever knew what was good for him or anyone else. No matter. Romulus had a plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The kingdom mourned the loss of the queen, and just a few months later, they mourned the loss of the young king. Although Romulus hadn’t and wouldn’t admit it publicly, the rumors spread like wildfire; The king was killed by his own brother.

Romulus, now king, had been content to let the people think what they liked. That is, until those priests started making a fuss.

A group of religious devotees had sprung up some decades ago in the kingdom, honoring the bond between siblings and worshipping some god or goddess or other. They hadn’t caused much trouble, really, they just went out and preached about loving your brothers and sisters and siblings and such. But then the news came of the new king murdering his brother, and they had been horrified. The leaders had gone to the main square, calling for Romulus to confirm whether these accusations were true.

Growing tired of the reports about these priests, Romulus sent a page to answer their demands. And he told the truth.

The priests demanded he step down, appoint a different successor. A king who was willing to murder his own family, his own sibling, should not be entrusted to rule a nation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The king offered to meet with the priests. He asked them to bring as many of their fellow devotees as wanted to come. He regretted what he had done, and he wished for them to counsel him, absolve him of his crime.

The priests agreed and came to the castle. All of the high priests attended, all of their seconds-in-command, many of their underlings. The king hosted them in a large hall.

Romulus stepped into the room and faced the priests, who rose as he entered. He thanked them for coming, for giving him a second chance.

He raised his hand.

The doors were barred from the outside. Guards that had been posted on the walkways above the hall armed their crossbows and fired.

The next morning, a decree went out. Any followers of the goddess Ahyoka were to be brought to the castle and tried for sedition and treason. Any who resisted were to be executed where they were found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ahyoka woke up screaming. Emily shared a room with her and was the first to be startled awake by her cries. Angel ran to the room next, followed quickly by Naduah and Onacona. Ahyoka was clutching her stomach and crying. Begging.

News arrived the next morning of the mortal kingdom purging itself of her followers. Of the massacre at the castle. Ahyoka is unconscious when they learn of this.

Her parents fear she won’t wake up. She’s so young, and there are so few followers for her…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily and Angel are with her when she passes. Angel is holding them both as the three of them sleep. He wakes up before Emily and wonders why the weight he’s holding is so much heavier. He carefully moves Emily to a couch to let her sleep once he realizes what’s happened, laying Ahyoka on the bed and brushing her hair out of her face.

He sends for his parents and sits next to the bed, crying quietly to keep from waking Emily.  He does check on Emily every now and then, listening for her breathing and afraid that she might be taken too.

He doesn’t know whether to be relieved or to cry harder when Emily does wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've said in previous Deity Au drabbles that Ahyoka died and Emily became the goddess of siblings, but I never really addressed how.  
> Romulus is Rome. Thanks to @texass-shenanigans for helping me world-build.


End file.
